In the relationship between the United States and Mexico, a paradigm for bilateral governance to address critical common issues such as trade, migration, and organized crime has historically been lacking. As a result, the level of cooperation between the two countries has varied, and responses to crises have at times been chaotic. This presentation will examine the prospects for US-Mexican relations in the context of US decline as a hegemonic actor and in light of the electoral processes taking place in both countries in 2012.

Dr Valdés Ugalde is a professor of international relations at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). He served from 2001 to 2009 as the director of the UNAM's Center for Research on North America (CISAN), where he remains a tenured lecturer-researcher. He has more than 60 publications in the fields of international politics, globalization, security, US foreign policy, and North American studies.