"...I truly came away from this study abroad class with much more interest and insight on Mexican politics. Having great leaders who guided us throughout the trip made all the difference."
“It was a tremendous opportunity, experience, and value for the money.”
“It was such an incredible experience. I'd recommend it to everyone I know.”
10 day study trip to Mexico
March 6 - 14 2010
Earn
3 Credits
SPACE STILL AVAILABLE
Course Directors:
Robert Rogowsky, Director of Operations for the US International Trade Commision
Michal McElwain Malur, Director of External Programs
APPREHENSION AND UNCERTAINITY: Mexico in Regional and Global Perspective
Despite receiving only intermittent attention in the United States, Mexico is perhaps our country’s most serious security issue. Having recently emerged from seventy years of one party rule, our southern neighbor is struggling to consolidate democracy while the federal government confronts ruthless drug cartels intent on subverting the nation. Twenty-four percent of Mexico’s population lives in states whose governments are dominated by one of the six drug cartels, which fund huge private armies to the tune of approximately $40 billion a year. By contrast, the Marida Plan, a new U.S. initiative to help combat the cartels, provides only one-hundredth that amount.
The police and judiciary are outgunned and corrupt. A rash of assassinations of judges, police chiefs, prosecutors, and city officials highlights the crisis. Eighteen journalists have been killed in the past five years. Not surprisingly, many newspapers refuse to report on the cartels. For its part, the Mexican army has resisted taking on the cartels, fearing the likely impact of exposing soldiers making $300 a month to cartels capable of paying them between five and ten times that much.
Mexico faces the dangerous prospect of becoming a failed state—a failed state of 100 million people, half living in poverty, stretching along a 2,000 mile border with the U.S. This makes Mexico one of the most important—and intractable—security concerns facing the new U.S. Administration.
This study abroad program presents an ideal opportunity for SPP students in all masters’ programs—as well as other interested individuals—to explore some of the most consequential policy problems facing Mexico and the U.S today. Indeed, Mexico offers perhaps the richest international experience possible to students of public policy, regardless of their specific areas of interest and expertise.
Program fee: $3,200
2009 Program Schedule (please review the 2009 schedule -- last year's schedule will be similar to the 2010 program. An updated 2010 schedule will be posted this winter)
Course Readings and Assessment
Administrative Details/flight information
Photo Gallery
Study Abroad on the School of Public Policy web siteWhy study abroad? A message from the GMU Provost
Student Comments/Testimonials