Virtual Events

Virtual Events
- This event has passed.
Global Trouble Spots: Mexico, Russia, Syria, and Iran
February 9 @ 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm
Virtual Events
$25

Global Trouble Spots: Mexico, Russia, Syria, and Iran
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 9, 6:00–7:30 P.M. Zoom invitations will be emailed to subscribers.

Countries all over the world are facing unprecedented challenges on fronts foreign and domestic. Picking up where Spring 2020’s “Trouble Here, Trouble There” left off, this course will examine four regimes at critical inflection points. February 9 (details and tickets below): Tony Payan on Mexico—Design or Dilemmas?; February 23: Najib Ghadbian on Syria—Endgame or Escalation?; March 3: Mohammad Ayatollahi Tabaar on Iran—Negotiation or Confrontation?; March 10 (NEW DATE): Robert Moser on Russia—Design or Deception? Please click the dates to the right for details about the other sessions.
February 9: Mexico—Design or Dilemmas?
Mexico’s president, Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO), came into office with 53% of the vote, enormous popularity, a majority in Congress, and vast political capital. Central to his electoral success was widespread unhappiness with the status quo and the promise of radical change. He has been in office over two years now amidst growing discontent with his approach to politics and policy. Critics say that Mr. López Obrador has come up short in meeting Mexicans’ expectations of change and has bungled the handling of the Coronavirus pandemic and the greatest economic crisis since the 1930s. Tony Payan will examine the structural constraints the López Obrador administration has faced and the issues that are likely to affect the country’s future and U.S.-Mexico relations.
Tony Payan is the Françoise and Edward Djerejian Fellow for Mexico Studies and director of the Center for the United States and Mexico at Rice University’s Baker Institute. He is also a professor at the Universidad Autónoma de Ciudad Juárez.