Shields, PatriciaOlvera, Jose Pablo2017-09-252017-09-252017-05Olvera, J. P. (2017). Conductive capacity of the state: An assessment of Mexican political institutions since the Merida Initiative. Mastsers of Public Administration, Texas State University, San Marcos, Texas.https://hdl.handle.net/10877/6869An Applied Research Project Submitted to the Department of Political Science, Texas State University, in Partial Fulfillment for the Requirements for the Degree of Masters of Public Administration, Spring 2017.The purpose of this applied research paper is to conduct a preliminary assessment of Mexico's political institutions since the Merida Initiative to evaluate the progress, or lack thereof, in relation to the agreement's explicit goals of institutionalizing reforms and supporting democratic governance. The project's framework is structured using three core pillar questions that address Mexican state capacities: coercive, extractive, and conductive capacity. Conductive capacity refers to the state's ability to effectively channel citizen demands through the state apparatus. First, an assessment of Mexico's political institutions is performed using a variety of methods, including data, survey-item, and case study analyses. Second, the dimension of conductive capacity is tested against coercive and extractive capacities to evaluate whether an interaction between these exists. The results of the assessment demonstrate that the Mexican state's coercive and conductive capacities have significantly decreased since the implementation of the Merida Initiative, while demonstrating that coercive and extractive capacities of the state significantly predict conductive capacity dimension variables.Text92 pages1 file (.pdf)enPublic AdministrationApplied Research Project