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The changes in Mexican economic policy within neoliberalism implied serious transformations in labor relations and forms of labor organization. Based on this, the aim of this paper is to analyze the implications that practices such as protection contracts and subcontracting had on the organization of workers, and the subsequent labor reforms, still limited, which make possible new schemes of dynamization within unions, through new demands framed within the rights of labor citizenship. Methodologically, a brief description is made of the main changes in the Mexican economy and the labor context since the last decade of the last century and the first two of the present Century. This is linked to the conceptual elements of the centrality of labor and labor citizenship. It concludes by pointing out that labor reforms make possible new scenarios of opportunity for Mexican trade unionism. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The study of the quality of democracy has focused mainly in whole countries, paying little attention to local governments. In light of this absence, the present paper describes some of the issues and prospects related to the study of the quality of democracy at the subnational level. By looking at the inconveniences posed by the Mexican case, the paper intends to call into question the theoretical, conceptual, methodological and contextual predicaments for the study of the quality of democracy in local governments. The foregoing with the aim of promoting a research agenda that seeks to resolve such problems and build reliable evidence that allows us to obtain better explanations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents an analysis of the situation of social security in Mexico after two decades of the reforms that led to the process of privatization and individualization of pension systems. It makes a balance of the benefits attributed to its implementation, as well of the existing economic and political conditions that move towards the universalization of social welfare in the country. The evidence shows disappointing results: the financial situation of the institutes remains precarious, their coverage is limited, and pensions represent a quarter of the average salary quoted. What worries the most is the insistence on applying the same measures (raise contributions, reduce benefits, and commercialize the operation of the system), offering in exchange universal access to a minimum pension and to an incipient unemployment insurance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the spatial distribution of corruption index at state level in Mexico between 2001 and 2010. The corruption index shows a non-random pattern and is detected that the cluster of states is located at country center. It's used GDP as determinant of corruption index, the level government intervention and gender issues. The results show that there is a spillover effect for corruption among states in almost all years. There is a positive relation between GDP and corruption. Policy implications are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Environmental perceptions are understood as the way in which every individual appreciates and values their environment and influences in an important way on man's decision making concerning the environment that surrounds them. The present paper is a brief review of the Mexican literature on environmental perceptions; analyzing how they influence the decision making concerning environmental management, with an emphasis on Protected Natural Areas (PNA). The paper ends underlining the importance of writing more papers that contribute information about the environmental perceptions of the local populations and the different social actors in PNA, both in rural and urban contexts, in order to make the implementation of the Mexican environmental policies more efficient. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In Mexico and in other parts of Latin America, a large overlap can be observed between indigenous territories and regions of high biological value. In this paper, we ask if the same overlap can be observed in the state of Jalisco, in western Mexico. To answer this question, we start with a succinct analysis of the two main indigenous regions in rural Jalisco: the Huichol Sierra in the northern part of the state and the Sierra of Manantlán, in the southern part. Then, we extend our analysis to the state in its entirety in order to measure the overlap between indigenous territories that have been "desindianized" and regions of high biological value. This is done by comparing the municipalities that contain agrarian centers designated as "indigenous communities" and the municipalities that areas officially recognized for their ecological importance. A high correlation between these two variables is observed, leading to the question "why". A series of hypotheses is developed and these are contrasted with empirical evidence through a case study of the ejido of Ayotitlán, in the Sierra of Manantlán. Although different forms of environmental degradation can be observed in Ayotitlán, it continues to be one of the best conserved territories in the state of Jalisco, with high levels of biodiversity. This is due, not only to its isolation, but also to the way in which the indigenous inhabitants have interacted with the environment and because of their activism in defense of their territory and natural resources. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present paper works from the hypothesis that the businessman's transgression to the political-electoral sphere was due to the accumulation of capital; taking as a premise that the accumulation of capital does not only occur in the natural sphere of the above mentioned actor, the economic sphere; but also that it must be resolved with the accumulation of capital in the social, cultural spheres as well as in the political one. The theoretical proposal is Political Geography; and in order to make evident the above mentioned process of the businessmen's accumulation of capital - transgression of spheres, the case of the Aguascalientes businessmen is approached from an empirical point of view. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]