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During the first decades of the 20th century, the supply of paper for the printing industries in Mexico became a problematic issue. Production difficulties, price increases and poor distribution during the monopoly of the San Rafael factory started a deep debate on the modernization and interference of the State in the paper industry. This article analyzes the transition between the private monopoly and the creation of the public company, Productora e Importadora de Papel Sociedad Anónima (PIPSA) in 1935, during the government of Lázaro Cárdenas (1934-1940). Through parliamentary debates, press articles and ministerial reports, the questioning of the monopoly as a public policy, the birth of PIPSA and the results in its first years of operation will be explained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background. Front-of-package food labeling is a public health strategy implemented to reduce the consumption of processed food to decrease the incidence of obesity in Mexico. Although there is an increasing focus among public health officials on implementing policies designed to address obesity, much less attention has been paid to how these policies could impact those with disordered eating, despite the fact that millions suffer from such illnesses. Objective. The aim of this article is to present scientific literature related to front-of-pack-age labeling and its impact on obesity and eating disorders. Method. Papers related to nutrition labels and obesity and eating disorders were reviewed. Results. The papers reviewed found no significant improvement regarding the consumption of processed food. Other measurements, including nutritional education, availability, physical education, and body-image acceptance, have a better impact on nutritional health. Discussion and conclusion. Front-of-package labeling is regarded as an important measure in the attempt to reduce obesity levels. However, there is insufficient scientific evidence to suggest that this type of labeling reduces the consumption of processed foods in patients with obesity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: We summarize comparative ethnoornithological data for ten Mexican Indigenous communities, an initial step towards a comprehensive archive of the avian diversity conserved within Mexico's Indigenous territories. We do so by counting highlighted species listed for bird conservation status on widely recognized "red lists" and their cultural value to build biocultural policies in Mexico for their conservation. Methods: Indigenous bird names for each study site were determined to allow calculation of the "Scientific Species Recognition Ratio" (SSRR) for high cultural value birds obtained across communities. This demonstrated patterns of cultural prominence. A matrix of 1275 bird versus seven biocultural values was analysed using a correspondence analysis (InfoStat/L-v2020) to illustrate patterns of concordance between bird conservation status and cultural values. Results: This paper contributes to quantitative and qualitative data on the role of ethnoornithology and ethnobiology in biocultural conservation. The areas studied provide refugia for almost 70% of the Mexican avifauna within a fraction of 1% of the national territory, that is 769 bird species recorded for all communities. The global correspondence of regions of biological and linguistic megadiversity is well established, while linguistic diversity is widely accepted as a good proxy for general cultural diversity. Our correspondence analysis explained 81.55% of the variation, indicating a strong relation between cultural importance and bird conservation status. We propose three main categories to establish a bioculturally informed public policy in Mexico for the conservation of what we described as high, medium, and bioculturally prominent bird species all include cultural value in any material or symbolic aspect. High are those species appearing on any threatened list, but also considered in any endemic status, while medium include threatened listed species. The last category included species not necessarily listed on any threat list, but with a wide range of social and cultural uses. We suggest that the concept might be extended to other species of biocultural importance. Conclusions: We argue that bird conservation policies should be biocultural, that is they should recognize birds of cultural value on a par with bird species "of special interest" because they are most critical for biodiversity conservation. The desire of local people to protect their traditional community lands and livelihoods can be an effective biodiversity conservation strategy, which should be recognized in national biocultural policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research paper presents a review of the state of the art of desalination in Mexico, with the aim of clarifying the main challenges and opportunity areas for desalination as the main solution to overcome water stress. First, the current situation and forecasts on the availability of water resources in Mexico are described, followed by the main economic, social, and legislative issues of desalination. Mexico's installed capacity for the different desalination technologies and their evolution in recent years was investigated, followed by a comparison with global trends. The current state of research and development in desalination technologies carried out by Mexican institutions was also studied. The results show that membrane technology plants account for 88.85%, while thermal technology plants account for the remaining 11.15%. Although Mexico presented a 240% increase in its desalination capacity in the last 10 years, it has not been enough to overcome water stress, so it is concluded that in the future, it is necessary to increase its capacity in greater proportion, specifically in the areas with greater scarcity, which can be achieved with the joint participation of academy–industry–government through the creation of autonomous organizations, social programs, and/or public policies that promote it. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper analyzes, from the perspective of desecuritization theory, the manner in which Andrés Manuel López Obrador (AMLO) changed the policy of the Mexican government for tackling drug trafficking in the country from a military to a social approach. The aim is to establish whether this strategy has been successful in comparison with the open war waged against the drug cartels over the twelve years preceding the AMLO administration. Given that this desecuritization strategy resulted from political decision-making rather than social pressure, the analysis presented here focuses on the President’s position and the actions he has taken. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Faced with popular dissatisfaction with liberal-capitalist democracy, at the beginning of the 21st century there is a governmental shift to the left in Latin America, in which Mexico is recently participating, with the arrival of the Morena party to power. The social movements that promote these political projects convey leftist utopias that seek to institutionalize themselves in political systems and public policies. However, this process of utopian institutionalization presents tensions and contradictions within the so-called party-movements. In this paper I present a methodological proposal for utopian analysis, which I apply to the "Colectivo La Calle", a group that is part of the lopezobradorista movement in Mexico. I analyze three utopias mediated by this group and find that indeed the Colectivo is mobilizing against Morena's pragmatism. This result adds to previous literature, which, given contemporary governmental experiences, questions the ability of the Latin American institutional left to overcome conservative hegemony. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

New migration configurations, particularly regarding access to resources for arriving migrants in urban contexts, have emerged in Mexico. As a destination for newly arrived international immigrant populations, Mexico City has become especially important. Stranded migration situations have produced fragmented journeys for Latin American migrants who are on their way to the United States. With the strengthening of immigration containment policies and the insecurity in Mexico, the complexity of immigrant journeys has led to new ways of settling in the country, temporarily or permanently. This paper is based on empirical elements to analyze the experiences of migrants who have recently arrived in Mexico City using a perspective centred on their everyday practices in the urban space. It highlights the different tactics and strategies that migrants develop depending on the characteristics of their migration process and their need for access to resources, like housing, employment, health care, and education. We point out that, in a context of restricted access to resources or an immigration status, utilizing alternate and informal strategies in micro‐local spaces is common in the city and part of a negotiated urbanity in an unknown metropolitan environment. We argue that, despite the local intercultural policy implemented by the government of Mexico City, situations of legal precariousness and transitoriness that characterize the urban practices and patterns of incorporation into the city constrain international migrants' access to their rights. Key Messages: Under current immigration control, many migrants settle temporarily or permanently in Mexico City, challenging authorities' efforts to make local inclusive policy reforms truly effective.As settling in the city makes it necessary to activate specific strategies for accessing resources, migrants rely more on new local interactions than pre‐existing social networks or longstanding sociocultural resources.Transient situations lead to partial incorporation into the urban context and limited access to rights, so informality, marginality, and social insecurity remain salient features. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since 2015, local governments of 30 Mexican states have joined the National Open Government Partnership to enhance openness through mechanisms of transparency, accountability and citizen participation. The objective of this paper is to analyze the frameworks promoted by the State Government of Michoacán on public participation since the adoption of an open government policy. To achieve the objective, press releases from the Michoacán State Government's page were collected and subsequently examined through a framing analysis. Findings indicate that this subnational government has framed public participation in two ways: as a democratic advance and as a transfer of responsibilities to citizens. At the same time, there is a recognition of new public and private actors sharing public decisions with the government. Despite the progress found in this subnational context, the authors warn of serious risks due to the absence of clear rules for the implementation of mechanisms for public participation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Agri-food systems are besieged by malnutrition, yield gaps, and climate vulnerability, but integrated, research-based responses in public policy, agricultural, value chains, and finance are constrained by short-termism and zero sum thinking. As they respond to current and emerging agri-food system challenges, decision makers need new tools that steer toward multi-sector, evidence-based collaboration. To support national agri-food system policy processes, the Integrated Agri-food System Initiative (IASI) methodology was developed and validated through case studies in Mexico and Colombia. This holistic, multi-sector methodology builds on diverse existing data resources and leverages situation analysis, modeled predictions, and scenarios to synchronize public and private action at the national level toward sustainable, equitable, and inclusive agri-food systems. Culminating in collectively agreed strategies and multi-partner tactical plans, the IASI methodology enabled a multi-level systems approach by mobilizing design thinking to foster mindset shifts and stakeholder consensus on sustainable and scalable innovations that respond to real-time dynamics in complex agri-food systems. To build capacity for these types of integrated, context-specific approaches, greater investment is needed in supportive international institutions that function as trusted in-region 'innovation brokers.' This paper calls for a structured global network to advance adaptation and evolution of essential tools like the IASI methodology in support of the One CGIAR mandate and in service of positive agri-food systems transformation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wicked problem literature is increasingly popular, but empirical studies about its relation to public policy are scarce. Additionally, there is no consensus on the convenience of Public Administration as policy makers addressing wicked problems by artificially defining and structuring them. The purpose of the paper is to address these gaps, specifically how, in practice, governments handle wicked problems. Two possible alternatives are discussed: either policy makers are rational, or rather they use heuristics for problem definition. The research focuses on problem definition as part of the policy process. In particular, how the definition of the particular wicked problematic situation was reflected in legislation: disappearances in Mexico. The case shows that forced disappearances is an heterogeneous phenomenon that can be considered a wicked problem, which further increases the complexity of policies that aim to tackle it. Also, results of applying congruence tests show that policy-makers structure wicked problems when defining them, but after a certain amount of energy has been spent on this task, policy makers employ heuristic devices. This contributes to understand how flesh and bone decision-makers build public policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The issue of public policy on accountability, transparency, and access to public information has now become a trend in most countries of the world. Among one of its objectives when evaluating institutions and public servants by their administrative and governmental decisions is to decrease corruption. Mexico is already a formal democracy, but the quality of its governments is still very low. Although these have been elected by the citizens, they continue without being accountable. In this paper, we analyze as a case study the State's last recourse to repair what bad management and privileges caused: the national anticorruption system, its formation, and operation. We enunciate the limits and scope it faces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyzes the actors in the climate change arena and their influence in directing Mexico toward policies that decrease greenhouse gas emissions, such as the carbon tax and climate change law. The network analysis of the agreement of these laws and public policies in Mexico is a lesson for any country that is in the process of designing and adopting environmental laws. The research is performed using a network analysis that is derived from interviews with various main actors and a discourse analysis of the media. Results show that actors do not coordinate their efforts—they meet frequently but in different inter-ministerial commissions—and do not enforce the same policies. The actors in the industry have formed strong coalitions against the carbon tax and the General Law on Climate Change, whereas international institutions have formed coalitions that support these policies and laws. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to give continuity to my previous work about the software industry and information technology services, but this time focused on the study of the dynamics of the cluster technology in local experiences. So the paper inquires this dynamic in two cities: Merida (Yucatan, Mexico) and Rosario (Santa Fe, Argentina) .The aim of approaching these two case studies is based on the interest in these two cities, since they have a innovative productive profile, with significant growth rates and that this strategy is added to other activities of high added value. In this sense the production of software and new technologies, are creating a climate conducive to local development. This paper examines the socio-economic context of each city, the background to the creation of the cluster technology, international cooperation and international institutional business, public policy in the territorial cluster, the profile and activities of the companies in there, and the characteristics of their human resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, anthropologists have grown increasingly concerned with the local impacts of global health policies as national governments restructure public health sectors throughout the developing world. Neoliberal development agendas that guide health reforms have privileged privatization and decentralized forms of management, shifting responsibility for health resource management from the state to municipal governments and local communities. The Healthy Municipalities program is one element of recent health reform efforts in Latin America. Advocated by the Pan American Health Organization to facilitate greater intersectoral collaboration and community participation, Healthy Municipalities seeks to assemble local participatory health management structures to help fill in the gaps left by a retracting state. Considering the case of Healthy Municipalities in Morelos, Mexico, this paper examines the micropolitics that guide the program's implementation and the extent to which it succeeds or fails to motivate participation in community health. The paper draws attention to a myriad of factors that limit the program's efficacy as it privileges a political agenda over local needs, despite the rhetoric of empowerment that places citizens at the center of health reforms. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the main problems shown by education offered to rural, migrant children in Mexico. The analysis begins with a critical review on the central criteria of education policy directed towards the search for enhancing educative opportunities and the betterment of quality in services for the most vulnerable sectors of the national population. The political principles are confronted with the results of an external evaluation of the Programa Educación Primaria para Niñas y Niños Migrantes (PRONIM), which is the educative program that presents a wide range of coverage and attends most of these children in Mexico. This article analyzes some of the most important results achieved by the PRONIM during 2004, and emphasizes the incongruence of the government policy, expressed in: scarce resources provided to Mexican states to program operation; lack of regional equality regarding the assignation of financial resources; precarious school spaces; depressing work conditions for teachers; and the lack of adequate pedagogic and didactic proposals. Those factors, among other, conjugate with some external aspects of the educative system, producing an increasing reduction in the access opportunities, continuity and school achievement of this children population. The paper intends to show the distances and challenges to sort out in order to be in possibility of achieve a fairer and more comprehensive primary education for the children of migrant rural workers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper analyze how the video surveillance puts the personal data that manage in a space of legal indeterminacy, and how generates process of social and space classification that derive, sometimes, in forms of social exclusion. The perspective that frame the capacity that individuals have to construct autonomy and control spaces against the stratification and domination logics. From this perspective, it's analyzed how the weak or inexistent regulation of video surveillance cameras in Mexico can affect the citizenship practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Monitoring and evaluation (M&E) have gradually become important and regular components of the policy-making process in Mexico since, and even before, the World Health Organization (WHO) Commission on Social Determinants of Health (CSDH) called for interventions and policies aimed at tackling the social determinants of health (SDH). This paper presents two case studies to show how public policies addressing the SDH have been monitored and evaluated in Mexico using reliable, valid, and complete information, which is not regularly available. Prospera, for example, evaluated programs seeking to improve the living conditions of families in extreme poverty in terms of direct effects on health, nutrition, education and income. Monitoring of Prospera's implementation has also helped policy-makers identify windows of opportunity to improve the design and operation of the program. Seguro Popular has monitored the reduction of health inequalities and inequities evaluated the positive effects of providing financial protection to its target population. Useful and sound evidence of the impact of programs such as Progresa and Seguro Popular plus legal mandates, and a regulatory evaluation agency, the National Council for Social Development Policy Evaluation, have been fundamental to institutionalizing M&E in Mexico. The Mexican experience may provide useful lessons for other countries facing the challenge of institutionalizing the M&E of public policy processes to assess the effects of SDH as recommended by the WHO CSDH. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Micro-enterprises have traditionally been considered a burden for development, from both the theoretical perspective of social sciences as well as policy praxis. However, for some years now, some of the specialized literature has presented evidence that despite their low productivity, the contribution of the informal economy to job creation and income in less-developed economies is significant. Given that other countries have begun to develop policies to encourage productivity in the informal sector, the main purpose of this paper is to understand, through a review of the regulations that support micro-enterprises, as well as new decrees and regulations, the current position of Mexico in this debate. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Discourse theory is useful for understanding the creation of borders, whether material or imaginary. This paper addresses three situations on Mexico's southern border between 2000 and 2015 in which elements of discourse theory may be applied. The outcomes were the following: 1) correlations may be made between the elements of the discourse moving from the northern to the southern border, but not in the opposite direction; 2) the process of securitising the discourse about migrants is continuous, and new securitising elements are regularly added; 3) an "elastic borders" phenomenon exists, where borders extend or retract, thereby creating new border regions; and 4) discourses around the southern border are constructed with more pejorative elements than the northern, despite the fact that crime rates are higher in the north. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the economic, politic and social conditions around the construction of the Queretaro’s Intercontinental Airport in Mexico. Rural communities surround this airport and the research is oriented to analyze what kinds of changes have been produced in one of the most important locality: San José de Navajas. In order to do so, it is study the negotiation process that allow to expropriate the community land, the conflicts generated as a result of it and the changes in the labor conditions and labor identity of the inhabitants. The research team also studies the expectative of development created in the community as a result of the arrival of foreign direct investment, which supposed to create new jobs in benefit of the community. The results of the research show how negatives effects are produced when government takes unilateral decisions and do not consider the opinion of the community residents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper reports the organizational diagnosis (OD) of a Public Safety State Academy of north-central Mexico as part of an intervention organizational (IO) project in the frame of the transition that occurs with the alternation of two different parties in state government. The main objective is to assess the relevance of the io for promoting change in government organizations. The data collected during the diagnosis reported here constitute evidence of positive weight, especially in light of the emphasis that Jacobson, Butterill and Goering (2005) DO in their model of learning in the IO. We conclude that, even with the constraints of IO implementation, the IO and the OD are very useful to promote change in these organizations, especially, in times of party alternation in government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the last forty years in various regions of Mexico, Jalisco, has given impetus to the development of industries known as "modern" as electronics and software, this is intended to increase growth and foster development, all this has been detrimental to those industries considered "traditional" (footwear, textile, jewelery), industries that have long been the basis for productive development of these regions. Policies that have followed in industrial countries has been to promote the first under the assumption that they are incorporating the technology, while the latter incorporates little technology in their production processes and generally do not innovate. However industrial behavior has demonstrated that the above is a fallacy. Government policies that were implemented in industrial resulted in the increase in the share of industrial production called "modern", such as electronics and software, but those traditional activities such as jewelry, not only maintained but that increased production and commercial dynamism. This dynamic is observed in the absorption of employment and productive participation nationwide. The jewelry industry is a case in point, because from generation entrepreneurship capacity, social capital and working together with the government, among others, has managed to influence local development in the region. Therefore in this paper analyzes trying to emphasize that industry, from interviews with key actors and quantitative analysis for this industry, basic factors that impacted on the local development of Jalisco. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The goal of this paper is to determine the profile of total demand and potential supply in health services, available for high cost illness or catastrophic illness in the Fund for Protection against Catastrophic Expenses (FPCGC by its Spanish initials) of the System of Social Protection in Health (SPSS). In the Fund's financial design's basis, health reality was considered static by deducting the effects of epidemic changes and not précising people's health needs, or "hidden demand". Thus, when this demand is revealed it becomes an effective demand for health institution and the plans used in the Fund's financial calculations change. All in all, a methodological definition from the General Health Council is needed in order to organize and make CIs temporal for the Fund's coverage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Overweight and obesity are increasing throughout the world, spurring a research agenda focused on understanding its causes, consequences, and the most appropriate public policies for addressing these problems. Unfortunately, very little remains known about the relationship between overweight/obesity and intellectual and academic outcomes. This is very problematic, as public policies cannot be successfully tailored to specific situations in the absence of adequate data. This paper helps narrow this research gap by analyzing the relationships between weight and school dropout rates, held back a year and increase in falling behind in school for children aged 12 to 14 and adolescents aged 15 to 18. As such, it is the first study addressing this topic in Mexico. The findings suggest that there is no clear relationship between overweight/obesity and intellectual/academic outcomes, as overweight/obesity has no effects on some variables and negative effects on other variables. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze the environment of insecurity and violence associated with drug trafficking on the U.S.-Mexican border, and the actions taken by the federal government to dismantle criminal organizations that fight to control the market and access to border crossing points for the introduction of drugs into the united States. The assumption is that violence and insecurity have existed on the border for a long time, but that the agencies responsible for border control and security are now part of the problem because of their association with criminal gangs, which in turn have strengthened their presence by taking root among sections of border society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper provides information on the background, social regulation and problems faced by the Civil Society Organizations that take care of street kids in Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico and the role these institutions play in society. For this purpose, we applied a survey to 30 users and 15 employees working in these organizations in the state of Sonora, Mexico. The findings indicate that although there is a legal framework that protects kids, teens and young adults, and that there is a number of organizations with broad experience in their care, most of these young ones are not integrated into one of the institutions. Our conclusion is that the state government has not solved the homeless kids issue, and the organizations that take care of them do not meet the objectives for which they were created, thus limiting the possibilities of integrating the social group they are supposed to be serving. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent times, poverty analyses and policies against poverty have incorporated women as a relevant factor. Nevertheless, some criticisms have been raised against them: first, most of the time, they have relied on an instrumental perspective which does not guarantee better conditions of gender equity; second, poverty analyses have generally become reactive tools that seek to compensate for a current situation, not to prevent it from occurring in the future. This paper therefore proposes to go beyond poverty analyses to identify distinctive features of households derived from social constructions that have an effect on vulnerability, particularly in households headed by women. We point out the importance of an analysis from a gender perspective in order to identify the features which make households more vulnerable to suffering or worsening their conditions of poverty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Baja California produce industry is notice by its strong export orientation production. Never less, in the past few years some products have been associated to food safety outbreaks in the United States, its main market, affecting its competitiveness and market share, driven produce growers to the adoption of standards as a mean to stay in the international market. The paper focus in the role of adoption of International standards in the firms as part of a competitive strategy that implies a technological change in order to comply with the certification requirements. A descriptive statistical analysis is conducted as well as a discriminate analysis in order to explain the factors that are involved in the firms that present technical innovation (adoption of standards) to achieve competitiveness and those that don't improve their productive process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2003, the Mexican Congress approved a reform establishing the Sistema de Protección Social en Salud [System of Social Protection in Health], whereby public funding for health is being increased by one percent of the 2003 gross domestic product over seven years to guarantee universal health insurance. Poor families that had been excluded from traditional social security can now enrol in a new public insurance scheme known as Seguro Popular [People's Insurance], which assures legislated access to a comprehensive set of health-care entitlements. This paper describes the financial innovations behind the expansion of health-care coverage in Mexico to everyone and their effects. Evidence shows improvements in mobilization of additional public resources; availability of health infrastructure and drugs; service utilization; effective coverage; and financial protection. Future challenges are discussed, among them the need for additional public funding to extend access to costly interventions for non-communicable diseases not yet covered by the new insurance scheme, and to improve the technical quality of care and the responsiveness of the health system. Eventually, the progress achieved so far will have to be reflected in health outcomes, which will continue to be evaluated so that Mexico can meet the ultimate criterion of reform success: better health through equity, quality and fair financing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Counties and town councils (boroughs) have a direct, immediate and unavoidable responsibility towards the environment. A few years ago, they were not regarded as priority functions of the counties. Today they are not only a basic legal obligation, but a social commitment of the local government to the community. This paper is centered on the responsibilities that the Federal and Local Political Constitutions impose exclusively on boroughs and townships regarding public services. The way those services are delivered have a direct consequence on the local environment. Drinking water, domestic drainage, waste disposal, waste water treatment, hygiene and cleanliness of marketplaces and other services are today's challenges for the municipal authorities; if not attended to in an efficient way they will have a negative direct impact on the quality of life of the community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to show that several characteristics that exist in the theoretical frame work known as New Public Management (NPM), such as: orientation of customer, account ability, information's technology, strategic planning, contracts and decentralization; these are in the strategies that apply the governments of the Republic Mexican's states on their public administrations. Official's documents are analyzed in detail with a methodology for to make indicators that it weigh up NPM in the actions are applied for the studied states. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]