Mexico's views of the United States have been characterized as stridently anti-American, but recent policy changes in Mexico-culminating with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)-mark a fundamental transformation in the relationship. This thoughtful and original work answers questions about the impact of these policy shifts on Mexican nationalism and perceptions of the United States. Have popular and elite views changed? Has the government's anti-American rhetoric become anachronistic? What has been the effect on Mexican national identity? As the only developing country to have entered into a free trade agreement with a developed country, Mexico offers a unique and invaluable case study of the impact of globalization on a nation and its national identity. Exploring Mexico's experience also allows us to consider how other countries perceive the United States, especially in the post-9/11 climate. Analyzing the diversity of Mexican views of the United States, Gringolandia contributes a rich and nuanced dimension to our understanding of contemporary Mexico and Mexicans' feelings about the vital cross-border relationship.

Mexico's views of the United States have been characterized as stridently anti-American, but recent policy changes in Mexico-culminating with the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)-mark a fundamental transformation in the relationship. This thoughtful and original work answers questions about the impact of these policy shifts on Mexican nationalism and perceptions of the United States. Have popular and elite views changed? Has the government's anti-American rhetoric become anachronistic? What has been the effect on Mexican national identity? As the only developing country to have entered into a free trade agreement with a developed country, Mexico offers a unique and invaluable case study of the impact of globalization on a nation and its national identity. Exploring Mexico's experience also allows us to consider how other countries perceive the United States, especially in the post-9/11 climate. Analyzing the diversity of Mexican views of the United States, Gringolandia contributes a rich and nuanced dimension to our understanding of contemporary Mexico and Mexicans' feelings about the vital cross-border relationship.

The essence of this text is the application of The Basel II Framework Use Test. I will illustrate the facets of Use Test adherence with risk management tools and strategies that complement a bank's pursuit of Advanced Internal Ratings Based Approach, Basel II Framework compliance. I will simultaneously pay close attention to the specific Basel II Framework, Use Test adherence measures. This book offers the practitioner a useful prescription for ensuring that their bank covers the necessary bases when pursuing its Basel II Framework implementation. It additionally puts into proper context where banks should be concerned in their pursuit of the Use Test, with specific attention to regulator, boards and executives concerns that the bank continues to operate with sound fiscal behaviour. The very foundation of a bank's lending practices is the credit cycle. This book identifies both the traditional model and the newly minted Basel II model of the credit cycle. It also demonstrates practices that create sustainable business processes which optimize the risk-reward drivers of a retail banking environment. It focuses on the different operational areas of the bank and the role each plays within the Basel II credit cycle. Finally, it provides a foundation for which the credit practices present in Marketing, Underwriting, Account Management, Portfolio Management, Recoveries and Collections and Regulatory Capital setting can be justly applied. Banks must make use of The Basel II Framework estimation tools, thus confirming that they are predictive, accurate and reliable in the estimation of regulatory capital as well as in the day-to-day running of the bank. In spite of the prescriptive nature ofThe Basel II Framework model estimates this book will illustrate how to exploit their elemental design into profitable pursuits. While one fundamental challenge relating to Basel II Framework adherence is incorporating these tools into the Credit Cycle, another focuses on e

Has the fundamental shift in Mexico's political system away from single-party authoritarian rule had any impact on the pattern of corruption that has plagued the country for years? Is there less or more corruption today? Have different types of corruption emerged? If so, why? Stephen Morris addresses these questions, comprehensively exploring how the changes of the past decade - political, structural, institutional, and even cultural - have affected the scope, nature, and perception of political corruption in Mexico. More broadly, his analysis sheds new light on the impact of democratization on political corruption, the conditions that make effective reform possible, and the limits of an institutional approach to understanding the corruption equation.

The essence of this text is the application of The Basel II Framework Use Test. I will illustrate the facets of Use Test adherence with risk management tools and strategies that complement a bank's pursuit of Advanced Internal Ratings Based Approach, Basel II Framework compliance. I will simultaneously pay close attention to the specific Basel II Framework, Use Test adherence measures. This book offers the practitioner a useful prescription for ensuring that their bank covers the necessary bases when pursuing its Basel II Framework implementation. It additionally puts into proper context where banks should be concerned in their pursuit of the Use Test, with specific attention to regulator, boards and executives concerns that the bank continues to operate with sound fiscal behaviour. The very foundation of a bank's lending practices is the credit cycle. This book identifies both the traditional model and the newly minted Basel II model of the credit cycle. It also demonstrates practices that create sustainable business processes which optimize the risk-reward drivers of a retail banking environment. It focuses on the different operational areas of the bank and the role each plays within the Basel II credit cycle. Finally, it provides a foundation for which the credit practices present in Marketing, Underwriting, Account Management, Portfolio Management, Recoveries and Collections and Regulatory Capital setting can be justly applied. Banks must make use of The Basel II Framework estimation tools, thus confirming that they are predictive, accurate and reliable in the estimation of regulatory capital as well as in the day-to-day running of the bank. In spite of the prescriptive nature ofThe Basel II Framework model estimates this book will illustrate how to exploit their elemental design into profitable pursuits. While one fundamental challenge relating to Basel II Framework adherence is incorporating these tools into the Credit Cycle, another focuses on enhancing and improving existing credit practices found within the bank's organizational structure in light of traditional banking shareholder drivers. This book thus simplifies this directive.

Corruption has blurred, and in some cases blinded, the vision of democracy in many Latin American nations. Weakened institutions and policies have facilitated the rise of corrupt leadership, election fraud, bribery, and clientelism. "Corruption and Democracy in Latin America" presents a groundbreaking national and regional study that provides policy analysis and prescription through a wide-ranging methodological, empirical, and theoretical survey.

The contributors offer analysis of key topics, including: factors that differentiate Latin American corruption from that of other regions; the relationship of public policy to corruption in regional perspective; patterns and types of corruption; public opinion and its impact; and corruption's critical links to democracy and governance.

Additional chapters present case studies on specific instances of corruption: diverted funds from a social program in Peru; Chilean citizens' attitudes toward corruption; the effects of interparty competition on vote buying in local Brazilian elections; and the determinants of state-level corruption in Mexico under Vicente Fox.

The volume concludes with a comparison of the lessons drawn from these essays to the evolution of anticorruption policy in Latin America over the past two decades. It also applies these lessons to the broader study of corruption globally to provide a framework for future research in this crucial area.

While there is arguably universal agreement that corruption plagues countries worldwide, do we agree as well on what corruption is and how to fight it? Do the left and right of the political spectrum hold conflicting views on the issue? Is there a difference in how successful left vs. right governments are in curbing corruption? These are the questions that inspired The Corruption Debates. Stephen Morris explores left and right anticorruption ideologies broadly, then turns to promises, policies, and outcomes in the Americas. He also reaches beyond differences rooted in left/right dichotomies to develop an alternative hypothesis, one reflecting an in-power vs. out-of-power dynamic. His book captures the inherently political nature of not only corruption, but, equally, our understanding of it.