Mexico : Mexico, current and future political, economic and security trends

This short paper provides analysis and some key data on what the political, economic and security trends appear to hold in store for Mexico as it faces the challenges both of addressing its future and attempting to avoid the boom and bust past that has so scarred the country and shaken the international community’s confidence in it for centuries. [...] As the PRI’s dominance waned in the wake of growing calls for real democracy and an opening of the nation to the world in the 1970s, eighties and nineties, there was a true awakening of democratic forces in the country. [...] The liberal fathers of Mexican independence often looked to the U. S. as the model for their new state but repeated invasions by the U. S., the forced cession of roughly half of Mexico’s territory to Washington during the middle of the 19th century, and nearly constant support for Mexican anti-reform elements by the U. S. government, eroded such positive impressions and eventually led to widesprea [...] The greater connection between Mexico and the U. S. led to the flourishing of the democratic ideals which were to work their way forward until the reforms and electoral victories of 2000. [...] Regions such as Chiapas and parts of the Yucatán Peninsula and the South, but also many regions farther north in the country, are among those where the indigenous presence is strong and where historic poverty has been the hardest to reduce.