Mexican Politics offers an accessible and timely introduction to politics in Mexico through a concise text with supplemental readings and case studies that allow students to explore key topics in depth. One of the United States' most important trading partners, Mexico is an important international supplier of oil, is the source country of millions of Mexicans in the United States (and millions more Mexican-Americans), and forms a 1,200-mile border, critical for stemming immigration and drug traffic, and crucial for preserving US and hemispheric security. Indeed, globalization has brought increased flows of people and trade with Mexico, highlighted by Mexico's growing dependence on the US as well as the importance of Mexico to the US. Key features include:

• 2-3 outside readings with every chapter to highlight competing perspectives on central topics.
• A brief overview of the historical context of democratiziation, to better situate contemporary political and economic "rules of the game."
• Focus on the institutions and and structures of today's Mexican political system, taking a "separation of powers" approach familiar to U.S. students of politics.
• Full treatment of the changes in Mexico's economic and regulatory structures.
• Highlights how Mexico's unique political history and political structure have shaped policy-making in key economic, political and social areas.
• An appendix with 6 case studies for role-playing activities

Todd A. Eisenstadt is Assistant Professor of Government at American University and principal researcher of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) Higher Education and Development Program. He is author of Courting Democracy in Mexico (Cambridge University Press, 2004), and numerous articles in journals including Latin American Politics and Society, Democratization, Party Politics and the International Political Science Review. A recipient of Fulbright and National Security Education Program "Boren" fellowships, he has been a visiting scholar at the El Colegio de México in Mexico City, Harvard University's David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, the Japan Institute for International Affairs in Tokyo, and the University of California, San Diego's Center for US-Mexican Studies. Between 2000 and 2005, Eisenstadt directed the United States Agency for International Development's "Mexico Elections Project," of academic research and the training of hundreds of observers of local elections and other government processes in Mexico. Formerly an award-winning print journalist, Eisenstadt frequently consults for the government and private sector.

Allyson Lucinda Benton is a professor and research associate in the División de Estudios Políticos at the Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, A.C. (CIDE) in Mexico City, Mexico. Dr. Benton has also worked as a Latin America political risk analyst in New York and currently advises institutional investors on Mexican political and policy risk through Medley Global Advisors. Her main academic research focuses on how economic conditions interact with political institutions to affect party systems and voting behavior in Latin America, and she has recently extended her research to hydrocarbons and mining sector policy. She has published articles in Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Theoretical Politics, and Política y Gobierno.