Mexico 2012 and Beyond with Denise Dresser

Location

Institute for Peace & Justice Theatre

Free

This year TBI celebrated the 16th Annual Sister Sally Furay Lecture with a keynote presentation by Dr. Denise Dresser, professor of political science at the Instituto Technologico Autonomo de Mexico (ITAM). 

Mexico faces a presidential election in which the former ruling party, the PRI, may return to power. The lecture examined the reasons that explain the "Putinization" of Mexico: the possibility of political regression due to the lack of substantive change over the last twelve years of National Action Party (PAN) rule.

The presentation focused on the main candidates and their campaign dynamics as well as the implications of a PRI win, in the context of the country's "war on drugs."

It also address the structural factors that have made democratic consolidation and economic reforms difficult to carry out, turning Mexico into a country that seems condemned to sub-par economic performance.

Denise Dresser is a professor of political science at the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (ITAM), where she has taught comparative politics, political economy, and Mexican politics since 1991. Dr. Dresser is the author of numerous publications on Mexican politics and U.S.‐Mexico relations including Neopopulist Solutions to Neoliberal Problems: Mexico's National Solidarity Program, and "Exporting Conflict: Transboundary Consequences of Mexican Politics."

She writes a political column for the Mexican newspaper Reforma and the news weekly Proceso and was the host of the political talk shows "Entreversiones"and “El País de Uno” on Mexican television. She is a contributing editor at the Los Angeles Times, and has contributed numerous opinion pieces to La Opinion, and is a frequent commentator on Mexican politics in the U.S. and Canadian media. She has also worked as a consultant to the United Nations Development Program, Barings Research and the Bank of Montreal. For a complete biography click here.

For the full video of the lecture click here.