Syllabus: Contemporary Mexico and its Challenges (CMAC)

Syllabus

Course:	Contemporary Mexico & its Challenges (CMAC)
Code	PH14021
Semester	January-May 2018
Professor	Francisco García González
E-mail	fgarciagonzalez@itesm.mx
Website	http://fgg23.blogspot.com (Go to the tag for the class)
Asesorías	To be determined

A. Content Objectives

This course aims to allow students to interpret Mexico’s social context by discussing the historical issues that shape it. Students will be able to value social, political, economic, ethnic, cultural and gender differences, as well as establish relationships between the political, economic, cultural, and geographic aspects of specific issues. Mexican laws and institutions will be put on the spotlight in order to discuss their relevance, how they have changed with time, and their impact in students’ lives.

B. Development Objectives

The course will focus on honing three abilities:

1.     Critical thinking: By the end of the course, students will have practice in taking a critical view of facts, events, phenomena, arguments, and other people’s opinions.

2.     Teamwork: The course will rely heavily on teamwork for the creation of class debates and the achievement of milestones.

3.     Effective communication: Students will practice their communication skills in front of diverse audiences and with diverse topics.

C. Work Methodology

-       The class will be based around discussions and teamwork. Homework will be rare, but not entirely absent.

-       Content will be made available to students before each session through the professor’s blog (fgg23.blogspot.com) in the class’s tag. Reading or watching the content is not necessary, but is highly recommended before each session, as it will make each class quicker and allow for more time to be dedicated to activities outside of listening to lectures or reading sources.

-       Assignments will be turned in exclusively via Blackboad. Any assignments sent to the teacher via e-mail will be ignored and have a 1 as a grade.

-       Suggested readings (These are not mandatory):

o   “Mañana o pasado: El misterio de los mexicanos” by Jorge Castañeda

o   “El laberinto de la soledad” by Octavio Paz

o   “El future de la democracia” by Norberto Bobbio

o   “El país de uno” by Denisse Dresser

o   “La mafia del poder” by Andrés Manuel López Obrador

D. Scheduled Activities

-     Challenges: There are six scheduled challenges that will provide a roadmap for the class’s relevant topics. Each one includes explanations, activities, readings, and extra material, all of which will be provided in the teacher’s blog and graded separately from Activities. For more information, see Sections F (Course Topics) and G (Course Evaluations).

-       State News: Each student will be assigned a Mexican state, and will have the responsibility of following the daily news coverage on this state, both at the local and national levels. Each class, one student may volunteer or will be called by the teacher to report on what is happening in their assigned state. This participation will count towards the Activities grade.

-       Weekend Update: Each Friday, a team of students will be scheduled to present the relevant national news from the previous week. This presentation will count towards the Activities grade.

-       Complementary readings are assigned to expand class discussions, which will be scheduled at the very end of each partial. These are:

o   February 16: “Instrucciones para vivir en México” by Jorge Ibargüengoitia

o April 6: “El priista que todos llevamos dentro” by María Scherer Ibarra and Nacho Lozano

-       Visit to the Museo de las Constituciones: Each student is encouraged to visit the Museo de las Constituciones in order to be able to complete the challenge scheduled to end on February 23.

D. Class Instructions

In order for the class to flow smoothly, some specific rules will apply:

1.     Be honest. Using information without a proper citation in written assignments, presentations, projects, or exams will be penalized as Academic Dishonesty (I.A.) according to Articles 9.1 and 9.2 of Tecnológico de Monterrey’s General Rules and Regulations for Students.

2.     Be responsible. The professor reserves the right to reschedule due dates, quizzes, and exams. While it is true that certain unexpected situations make deadline extensions acceptable and necessary, this is generally not the case, and deadlines are scheduled for specific reasons. Please respect the professor’s time and your own by planning accordingly when possible, and speaking up when necessary. Regarding absences, the class policy is that SAPPA will be taken after the 5-minute mark, and no one may enter the class afterwards. Absences are non-negotiable, and any kind of request for them to be justified should be taken directly to the department.

3.  Be respectful. While cellphones and electronic tablets are a staple of contemporary life, texting and taking calls while someone else is speaking in a discussion and teamwork-oriented class is impolite and counterproductive. Please raise your hand and wait for your turn to talk during class discussions, debates and lectures. If a student is unable to pay attention or participate respectfully, they will be asked to leave the class.

4.     Be present. As each class is only 1-hour long and activities are fast-paced, any absence (even to go to the bathroom) is distracting and probably unnecessary. This also applies for the usage of computers, tablets and phones for things that are unrelated to the class. You already made it to class, so you might as well make the most of it.

5.   Be cool. While it is true that the teacher is not your parent and holds significantly less authority than any parental figure in your life, the class hour is not a democracy. It is a benevolent dictatorship. The teacher will do their best to help you learn and take advantage of the material, so you might as well not antagonize them for it.

F. Course Topics

	Date	Weekly Topics	Challenges
1	08-ene	Syllabus, historical identity, national identity, Geography	Challenge 1: Getting to know Mexico and Mexicans
	09-ene
	10-ene
	11-ene
	12-ene
2	15-ene	Political Organization, Constitution, Executive Branch	Challenge 2: Getting to know Mexico's Constitutions
	16-ene
	17-ene
	18-ene
	19-ene
3	22-ene	Executive and Legislative Branches
	23-ene
	24-ene
	25-ene
	26-ene
4	29-ene	Legislative Branch
	30-ene
	31-ene
	01-feb
	02-feb
5	05-feb	Judicial Branch PARTIAL EXAM: February 6
	06-feb
	07-feb
	08-feb
	09-feb
6	12-feb	Electoral system and democracy in Mexico
	13-feb
	14-feb
	15-feb
	16-feb
7	19-feb	Party system
	20-feb
	21-feb
	22-feb
	23-feb
8	26-feb	Political parties in Mexico	Challenge 3: Observing political campaigns
	27-feb
	28-feb
	01-mar
	02-mar
9	05-mar	The role of civil society, transparency, and governance
	06-mar
	07-mar
	08-mar
	09-mar
10	12-feb	Mexican economy and society: Economic models, taxes, monetary policy, and financial system
	13-mar
	14-mar
	15-mar
	16-mar
11	19-mar	Demography, economic indicators, human development, poverty PARTIAL EXAM: March 20	Challenge 4: Be INEGI for a day
	20-mar
	21-mar
	22-mar
	23-mar
	26-mar
	27-mar
	28-mar
	29-mar
	30-mar
12	02-abr	Demography, economic indicators, human development, poverty	Challenge 5: Exploring a job
	03-abr
	04-abr
	05-abr
	06-abr
13	09-abr	Security, migration, and corruption	Challenge 6: Corruption in Mexico
	10-abr
	11-abr
	12-abr
	13-abr
14	16-abr	Security, migration, and corruption
	17-abr
	18-abr
	19-abr
	20-abr
15	23-abr	Security, migration, and corruption
	24-abr
	25-abr
	26-abr
	27-abr
16	30-abr
	01-may
	02-may
	03-may

G. Course Evaluation

First and Second Partials
Activities	10%
Partial Project	20%
Partial Exam	40%
Challenges	30%
TOTAL	100%

Final Grade
Partial 1	30%
Partial 2	30%
Activities	4%
Final Project	8%
Final Exam	16%
Challenges	12%
TOTAL	100%

H. Professor’s Profile

Francisco García González holds a Bachelor of Arts in International Relations from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Ciudad de México, and a Master of Arts in Public Administration and Public Policy from Tecnológico de Monterrey’s School of Government and Public Transformation. His areas of specialization have included corruption, conflicts of interest, security, and globalization.

He has also studied at Georgetown University’s School of Continuing Studies in the International Relations and Conflict Resolution track of their “Semester in Washington” program, as well as Universidad Católica del Uruguay’s Winter School of Research Methods and Data Analysis.  He has worked for the Mexican federal government, the National Defense University’s William J. Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies in Washington, DC, and Yale University’s Center for the Study of Globalization.