Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, July 06, 2007

Calderón's first year

The Economist has published a good analysis of Calderón's first year in office. It is probably worth saving until you teach about Mexico. There might be something better by then, but maybe not.

Mexico a year later: What Felipe Calderón has achieved

"A year after hotly contested elections and seven months into his term of office, Mexico’s President Felipe Calderón has achieved more, and is more popular, than might have seemed possible after he beat off a heated challenge to his narrow electoral win. He has assertively launched an anti-crime offensive, forged a working relationship with the opposition and secured a least one important legislative victory thus far. He has also seen the prowess of his main political nemesis ebb in recent months. However, he still faces considerable challenges in advancing his agenda, and, if his latest fiscal reform plan is any indication, will have to make compromises to make his goals politically feasible...

"It could be much tougher for Mr Calderón to build support for another contentious plan: to modernise, even open up, the energy sector. This will become increasingly urgent in the next several years, as the oil-dependent public finances are expected to suffer from the impact of declining prices and falling oil output. And the state oil company, Petroleos Mexicanos (Pemex), is in desperate need of investment and technical know-how for new exploration and production.

"Reforms to the labour market, to competition policy and enforcement, and to regulatory policy would also help raise the size of the formal economy and therefore broaden the non-oil tax base. But there is probably only a relatively small window of opportunity to achieve tangible advances in these areas before lawmakers’ attention turns to the mid-term elections due in 2009. Further, on all these fronts reforms will be complicated by powerful vested interests and, although the government has expressed a desire to tackle the issues, progress remains uncertain..."

Labels: leadership, Mexico, politics