Policy analysis in think tanks

The chapter provides an overview of how policy analysis takes place in Mexican Think Tanks. It focuses on two of the few organisations of this kind that currently exist in the country: the Centro de Investigación para el Desarrollo (CIDAC, or Centre for Research for Development) and the Centro de Estudios Espinosa Yglesias (CEEY, or Centre of Studies Espinosa Yglesias). The chapter is divided into four sections. The first discusses the main features of think tanks, with a particular focus on the Mexican ones. The second presents the origins and general objectives of CIDAC and CEEY, and describes how these two organizations conduct policy analysis. The third compares both cases, paying particular attention to how they define their topics of interest, how they gather relevant information, what kind of policy products they generate, what kind of communication channels they use, and how they assess the impact that their analyses may have had. The chapter closes with some conclusions and general remarks about the future challenges of policy analysis in Mexican think tanks.

Policy analysis in state governments in Mexico

State governments have acquired a central role in Mexican politics and policy making during the last decades as a result of both democratization and decentralization. Nowadays state governments not only concentrate a significant portion of prerogatives and responsibilities in terms of service delivery but also control a substantial share of public spending. However, no systematic studies have been developed in order to understand how state governments function. This chapter provides an overview on how policies are crafted at the subnational (state) level in Mexico, the main actors taking place in the process and the way in which professional knowledge and advice influence policy makers. As it argues, the central role in the policy making process is played by the executive branch, being the governors the ones who have the final word in most important decisions. In addition, secretaries also concentrate power in particular policy areas. As a result of the lack of a professional civil service, however, a significant portion of policy analysis is performed by non-governmental actors (universities, NGOs and private firms). The chapter applies this framework to analyze a particular Mexican state, namely Mexico City.

Policy analysis in the Chamber of Deputies

Until the 1990s, the Mexican Congress functioned as a rubber-stamp institution whose main function was the approval of the presidents’ bills. The subordination of Congress to the executive branch produced, among other effects, the hindering of legislative policy analysis. Since government agencies had control over the policy process, it was not necessary for legislators neither to become policy specialists nor to invest resources and time in the development of professional staffs that could carry out policy analysis on diverse areas. However, as the process of democratization advanced, legislators started to create research centers and established civil service systems in order to professionalize the staff that supports legislative work. This chapter provides an assessment of the congressional policy analysis carried out in Mexico by focusing on the lower chamber (Chamber of Deputies) of the federal Congress. It argues that research centres and legislative committees perform three types of policy analysis. The limited functioning of the civil service system, the politicization of legislative staff, and low salaries are the main factors that undermine the quality of policy analysis in the Chamber of Deputies.

Conclusion

The editors of the book came to the following conclusions. First, the policy analysis field has made significant progress in Mexico but still needs to overcome several important challenges. Second, despite some recent progress, policy analysis is not extensively conducted yet at neither the Executive nor the Legislative federal branches. Third, autonomous agencies, advisory councils and some departments of the federal bureaucracy are able to conduct policy analysis to a greater extent than other state agencies. Fourth, compared to the federal level, policy analysis is much weaker at the state and local levels. Fifth, the lack of a truly functioning merit civil service is one of the main reasons that explain the low policy analysis capacity at all levels and most areas of the Mexican state. Sixth, policy analysis is much weaker across non-state organizations than at state spheres, something that is directly related to the Mexican tradition of strong state presence. Seventh, while policy analysis is conducted to some extent in parties, think thanks, civic and business organizations, it is only scarcely conducted within unions and the mass media. Eight, there seems to be some evidence for a positive relationship between policy analysis and policy influence.

Policy analysis, the political game and institutional change in the labor market

This chapter analyses two public policy cases: The most recent labour and educational reforms in Mexico. It focused on these two cases because they show the interplay and decision making of social and political actors framed in a corporatist arrangement and its consequences on the design and implementation of public policies. The chapter is organized as follows: First, it presents an analysis of each of the abovementioned public policies and their institutional changes. It then studies the political processes through which the decisions were made, taking into account what was at stake, the actors involved, the scenarios and the rules of the game. The chapter then discusses the way in which all these factors influenced the quality of policy analysis, the implementation of the policies adopted and the manner in which corporatism diminished their effectiveness, credibility and permanence.

Policy analysis in political parties

This chapter analyses the extent to which Mexican political parties have evolved and developed competence for policy analysis, offer policy options to party candidates during campaigns and carry out research on public policy to support the decision making process once in government. The main argument is that Mexican political parties are seldom accountable and transparent, and it is not clear which are the incentives to develop policy analysis and research capabilities to compete on the basis of policy choices, given the extended clientelistic network used to gain votes. The analysis is based on three basic sources of information: political parties’ official documents regarding their policy analysis centers (think tanks), party manifestos for the 2006 and 2012 presidential elections and some interviews.

Evolution of policy analysis as a field of study in Mexico

This chapter provides a description of how the academic field of Policy Analysis has evolved in Mexico. After presenting the different approaches to policy analysis, mainly “evaluative policy analysis” and “explanatory analysis”, it discusses three periods of policy analysis in the country. The first one goes from 1940 to 1990, when the subject was studied under an authoritarian political system that cared little about policy efficiency and with no relation to the policy analysis methods or approaches which emerged in the U.S. in the 1950s. The second one, 1990-2000, was a decade during which policy analysis finally emerged as a field, with Mexican scholars producing pioneering works and sponsoring the first academic programs and expert journals, all of this in the middle of important economic and political changes in the country. The third period, from 2000 to the present time, has been characterized by an increasing number of publications, academic programs and contributors, reflecting the growing maturity of the field and the more favorable intellectual conditions provided by an emerging democratic environment. Thus, the chapter concludes that policy analysis as a field of study has surpassed in Mexico its visibility threshold, although it still needs to overcome some other challenges.

Policy analysis in Mexico: an introduction

This chapter provides a general overview of the volume. It highlights some historical and political features of Mexico, particularly those related to the country’s recent democratisation and economic liberalisation. The chapter underlines the central role that the state and its federal administration have played in terms of producing policy analysis and leading policymaking processes, and how this has in turn constrained the development of policy analytical capacities among other public actors such as the legislative power and subnational governments. The chapter then describes the contents of the book, outlining the main topics addressed by the various authors and how they contribute to increasing our knowledge about how policy analysis is conducted in Mexico.

Policy analysis in the media: the coverage of public issues and the relevance of context

Media are key actors in supporting a pluralistic and healthy public life. Greater media autonomy and professionalism imply a balanced coverage of issues based upon diverse and contrasted sources. Thus, for covering different aspects of public affairs and policy in consolidated democracies it may be possible to expect the existence of investigative cabinets within media organizations. In the case of Mexico, by contrasting two theoretical models –Agenda-Setting and Indexing—to compare the coverage of three public policy cases with three investigative journalism stories in a group of print, broadcast and Web-based media, this chapter provides answers to the following questions: Are the media more autonomous and professional in their coverage of public issues? Are there any differences according to the type of media –print, broadcast or web? Does their coverage of public issues reflect the work of specialized investigative cabinets?

Policy analysis and public policy in the private sector

This chapter provides a description of policy analysis in the private sector. The author introduces the topic with an informative description of the organizations that have been historically created to represent businessmen and businesswomen. Thereafter, Alba presents the main research centres that have been established by private actors with the aim of getting accurate information about political and economic trends. Alba then shows how business has developed some capacity to do policy analysis in the areas of its interest and explains the various mechanisms that businesses employ in their attempts to negotiate with state actors, and thus to influence policymaking processes.