Francisco E. González

Introduces students to the changing political economy of Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean. The course is divided into three parts: Mexico (eight sessions), Central America (three sessions) and the Caribbean basin (two sessions). Devotes particular attention to political and economic institutions, political culture, social and political conflict, market liberalization in the region’s countries and a case study of Cuba.

Analyzes the political economy of energy conflict and cooperation in the Americas by function and in terms of major players. The functional component covers the politics of oil, natural gas issues, biofuels, energy infrastructure, energy organization and regulation, private and public sector participation, geopolitics and other energy topics. The major players component includes the politics of energy in Canada, Mexico, the United States, the Andean countries, Brazil, the Southern Cone and Venezuela, and also offers a global perspective on the impact of the world’s major energy producers and consumers (i.e. China, India, the Middle East countries and Russia) on the Americas. (This is a cross-listed course offered by the Latin American Studies Program that also can fulfill a requirement for the Energy, Resources & Environment Program).

This two-credit class introduces students to the changing political economy of Mexico. The course covers recent Mexican history to the current presidency, paying particular attention to the political economy of the long-lived PRI authoritarian regime, the successive financial/economic crises that weakened it starting in the early 1980s, and the long and protracted, although relatively successful “dual transition” that Mexico underwent: from authoritarian to democratic rule and from a relatively closed to an integrated economy in global markets, but especially with the United States. There are also specific sessions devoted to: 1) NAFTA and 'why Mexico does not seem to be able to grow at high rates -- like other big emerging markets; 2) Mexican (and Central American) migration to the United States and its effects in both countries; and 3) drug-trafficking and the so-called 'war on drugs' since the mid-2000s, and its many economic, political and security impacts to date.

This two-credit class analyzes the political economy of Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and Paraguay, and inter-state issues (in particular Brazil, the United States, and most recently China as big players in this region of Latin America. A core description and analysis of these countries' political and economic histories and their relations with each other as well as with the big influential countries noted above, gives way to a focus on key general policy topics common to the Southern Cone: 1) Financial and economic instability and strikingly different ways of coping with globalization (i.e. Chile and to some extent Uruguay closer to pro-globalization and orthodox management of monetary and fiscal policies versus Argentina and Paraguay, where for different reasons nationalist, anti-globalization forces have been or remain dominant); 2) Regional integration during the Cold War (analysis of Operación Cóndor) and since its end (i.e. MERCOSUR and now UNASUR); and Energy, Resources and Environment issues (i.e. from dominance of big-scale copper mining in Chile to agrofoods' exports, particularly soybeans in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay) to the great potential for clean energy (grow hydro-electricity and other renewables, and the paradoxical continuation of dependence on oil and natural gas in all these countries.

This course is divided into two parts. The first part introduces students to the basic material underlying the historical evolution of Latin America’s economy and its economic and political determinants. The focus of the second part shifts from historical to topical inquiry, analyzing the key policy areas, frameworks and choices underlying the current political economy of the region’s countries (fiscal and industrial policies, monetary and financial policies and policies on trade, migration, poverty and inequality, energy and environment).