Mexico

Mexico's federal system grants significant autonomy to 31 states and Mexico City, but real power has historically concentrated in the presidency — a six-year term without re-election that creates a cyclical governance pattern where each president reshapes institutions in their own image. The Morena party's recent dominance represents a structural shift from the PRI-PAN alternation that characterised Mexican democracy after 2000. The economy is increasingly integrated with the United States through the USMCA trade agreement, with nearshoring driving foreign direct investment as companies diversify supply chains away from China. Mexico's governance challenge is the parallel state: in significant portions of the country, cartels exercise de facto territorial control, collecting taxes, providing services, and enforcing their own legal systems — a biological parallel to parasitic organisms that co-opt host infrastructure without killing the host.