Conference Program

This paper delves into the geopolitical complexities surrounding the South China Sea (SCS) and Taiwan Strait, both crucial maritime territories significantly influenced by the ongoing US-China rivalry. These regions are vital for global trade, energy supply, and security, making them focal points in international relations. The research scrutinizes the aggressive actions of China, its territorial claims, and the resulting tensions with the United States, exemplified by military encounters in the SCS. Amidst this, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) plays a key role, adhering to non-confrontational principles, yet facing challenges in asserting its centrality in the context of SCS and Taiwan Strait disputes. The study questions how the US-China rivalry affects ASEAN's centrality and its role in maintaining regional stability. The analysis considers ASEAN's responses to activities in the disputed territories, examining official statements, government white papers, and relevant documents. The article contends that the efficacy of regional institutions like ASEAN depends on the prevailing order and emphasizes the need for a redefined role in mediating great power conflicts within the context of power or order transitions. Ultimately, the paper aims to contribute to the understanding of ASEAN's evolving significance amidst the shifting dynamics in the SCS and Taiwan Strait.

It is critical to recognize that shared problem solving is essential to understanding the bilateral security relationship between Mexico and the United States. This statement forms the basis of this paper and underpins the central argument about the importance of bilateral security cooperation in the context of the New Bicentennial Understanding.

Once we have established the necessary context to understand the relevance of the relationship between Mexico and the United States as intermestic, strategic, neighborly, and even friendly partners, it is crucial to explore the historical aspect and make a brief account of the background of cooperation between the two countries. This will allow us to understand how we have evolved from lack of cooperation to the Merida Initiative and, finally, to the New Bicentennial Understanding.

To achieve what has been established in the previous paragraphs, the two classic theories that define in large part how the relationship between Mexico and the United States has been will be comprehensively reviewed: structural realism from the insipience of both nations, until the end of the nineteenth century, until reaching the twentieth century where, in the middle of the American century, Mexico became a fundamental axis for the United States under the logic of a vision more attached to institutional liberalism.

This paper aims to explain from the perspective of complex interdependence why Mexico and the U.S. do not designate drug traffickers as terrorists. The theory proposed a mutual dependence between States, so vulnerability and sensitivity exposed by the theory will be analyzed to explain how their interests and priorities are affected.

The paper is divided into four sections: the first explains the theoretical approach, the second analyzes the increase in violence in Mexico; the third focuses on the perspective of the U.S. to consider drug traffickers as terrorists. The fourth; analyzes how has been Mexico’s cooperation to prevent drug traffickers from being declared terrorists in a general framework of complex interdependence.