UC San Diego visiting professor David Shirk evaluates the North American Free Trade Agreement at its 20th anniversary, an important milestone for the U.S., Mexican, and Canadian regional partnership. NAFTA was accompanied by continued economic integration, significant periods of job growth, and dramatic increases in foreign direct investment flows across all three countries. The agreement remains somewhat controversial because of its implications for currency valuations, industrial...

Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto took office in December of 2012 promising a new approach to curb drug trafficking that would be both more effective and less violent than the strategy of his predecessor. The new enforcement plan seems to be working but is it sustainable? David Mares, director of the Center for Iberian and Latin American Studies at UC San Diego, argues that the answer is fundamental to Mexico’s future and of great interest to the United States. Mares is presented by the...