reform

The Role of Immigration in the Rise of U.S. Private Prisons

By Alexis Takoushian
January 8, 2019

The past and present roles of immigration policy drive political, economic, and cultural dynamics in the formation of prison privatization. While inaugurated by President Nixon, succeeding administrations have continued to augment “tough on crime” strategies. The Reagan administration’s addition to the strategy was the infamous expansion of the use of private prisons to incarcerate individuals from at-risk communities, such as low-income minority neighborhoods. Often forgotten is that the groundwork for the development of private prisons was laid by immigration.

A Lottery System not so Random

By US Latin American Relations
May 29, 2018

The rhetoric and reality behind the immigration policy is something that has been widely debated. In particular, the Diversity Visa Program, is aspect of the immigration policy that has notoriously gained negative rhetoric through the Trump administration. However, I argue that the reality behind this program contrasts the negative rhetoric that has been attributed to this program.

Energy reform in the Mexican elections: continuity or change?

By Mariana Daniela Ceva Alvarez
May 2, 2018

Since the 1990s, Mexico’s energy policy has shown a tendency to prioritize short-term objectives as well as its relationship with North America, which resulted in a focus on the production of crude oil for exports to the US. In contrast, the reform passed in 2013 focused on lowering energy costs for Mexican households, increasing investment and employment, and putting the government at the center as owner of oil and gas and regulator of the oil industry. The national presidential elections of 2018 will define the path Mexico will follow in the coming years.

The Impact of Political Decentralization: A Natural Experiment in Uruguay

By Fernando Rosenblatt, German Bidegain, Felipe Monestier, and Rafael Piñeiro
June 15, 2016

Is political decentralization an effective institutional reform to promote citizens´ engagement with democracy? The potential democratizing effect of political decentralization reforms has been a matter of substantial theoretical and empirical debate. Analyses of the causal impact of decentralization reforms have reached very dissimilar conclusions (Eaton and Connerley 2010), and they have been strongly marked by normative preferences.

Deepening Democracy? Electoral Reforms and Gender Quotas in Chile

By Susan Franceschet and Jennifer M. Piscopo
October 10, 2016

Sweeping electoral reform of the sort approved by Chile’s senate on January 14 is rare in politics. Electoral systems produce winners and losers, and those who benefit from the previous rules rarely support dramatic changes. Indeed, more than twenty previous attempts to modify the electoral rules adopted by the Pinochet dictatorship had failed. While the system designed during the dictatorship was widely credited with reducing the likelihood of a return to military rule, achieving stability came at a price.

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