Stephen D. Morris

Corruption and Trust: Theoretical Considerations and Evidence From Mexico

The growing empirical literature on political corruption shows trust (interpersonal and political) to be both cause and consequence of corruption: a conclusion that largely builds on studies using cross-national measures of corruption based on perceptions of corruption rather than actual experience, raising questions of endogeneity. The lack of trust fed by corruption is considered critical in that it undermines government efforts to mobilize society to help fight corruption and leads the public to routinely dismiss government promises to fight corruption. After disaggregating the major concepts, this article empirically explores the relationship linking corruption and trust in Mexico based on data from the 2004 Americas Barometer survey. The authors discover a powerful mutual causality between perceptions of corruption and trust in political institutions that suggests that rooting out perceptions of corruption or shoring up trust in public institutions will be an extremely difficult project for anyone who takes on the task.

Corruption and the Mexican political system: Continuity and change

Thanks to the nature of its political system, Mexico has had a long history of political corruption. Yet recent changes in the patterns of corruption and broader political changes have seemingly al...

Reforming the Nation: Mexican Nationalism in Context

With the NAFTA (North American Free Trade Agreement); the EZLN (Ejercito Zapatista de Liberacion Nacional), and political crisis/reform all posing questions both old and new about Mexican nationalism, this article reconsiders the dimensions of the subject, the issues, and the empirical evidence. After setting out an analytical and theoretical framework for the study of nationalism, it concentrates on the many components of Mexican nationalism, the historic and on-going nationalist debates over the Indian, the American and the state, and the nature of nationalist policies over the years. It then reviews research related to such theoretical issues as the linkages between nationalist sentiments, ideas and policies, the social bases of nationalist ideas and perceptions, and the changes in nationalism. The article aims to place longstanding discussions of Mexican nationalism in a theoretical context and to derive conclusions which indicate appropriate directions for future research.

Drugs, Violence, and Life in Mexico

El narco: La guerra fallida. By Rubén Aguilar V. and Jorge G. Castañeda. Mexico City: Punto de Lectura, 2009. Pp. 143. MXN

Linking Crime and Corruption: The Case of Mexico

105.00 paper. ISBN: 9786071103154. The Last Narco: Inside the Hunt for El Chapo, the World’s Most Wanted Drug Lord. By Malcolm Beith. New York: Grove Press, 2010. Pp. xxiv + 261.

Disaggregating Corruption: A Comparison of Participation and Perceptions in Latin America with a Focus on Mexico1

24.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780802119520. Murder City: Ciudad Juárez and the Global Economy’s New Killing Fields. By Charles Bowden. Photographs by Julián Cardona. New York: Nation Books, 2010. Pp. xiv + 320.

Political corruption in Mexico : the impact of democratization

27.50 cloth. ISBN: 9781568584492. Narcos over the Border: Gangs, Cartels, and Mercenaries. Edited by Robert J. Bunker. New York: Routledge, 2010. Pp. 238.

Political reformism in Mexico : an overview of contemporary Mexican politics

125.00 cloth. ISBN: 9780415560726. Drug War Zone: Frontline Dispatches from the Streets of El Paso and Juárez. By Howard Campbell. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2009. Pp. vi + 310.

Drug trafficking, corruption, and violence in Mexico: mapping the linkages

24.95 paper. ISBN: 9780292721791. Mexico: Narco-Violence and a Failed State? By George W. Grayson. New Brunswick, NJ: Transaction Publishers, 2010. Pp. xiv + 339.

Corrupción y política en el México contemporáneo

34.95 cloth. ISBN: 9781412811514. Impunidad: La quiebra de la ley. By Julio Scherer Ibarra. Mexico City: Grijalbo Mondadori, 2009. Pp. 136. MXN