Transcript Building Sustainable Research Networks between the US and Mexico Donald Klingner NASPAA Albuquerque, NM November 6, 2014

Building Sustainable Research Networks
between the US and Mexico
Donald Klingner
NASPAA
Albuquerque, NM
November 6, 2014
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Short Biography
Dr. Donald Klingner is a Distinguished Professor in the School of Public
Affairs at the University of Colorado Colorado Springs. He was elected
President (2008-2009) of the American Society for Public Administration
(ASPA) and is a Fellow of the National Academy of Public Administration
(NAPA). He co-authors Public Personnel Management (6th edition 2010),
also published in Spanish and Chinese. He has been a Fulbright Senior
Scholar (Central America 1994), a visiting professor at UNAM, Mexico
(1999-2003), and a consultant to the United Nations, the World Bank and
the Interamerican Development Bank on public management capacitybuilding. He was a faculty member at Indiana University (IUPUI, 19741980) and Florida International University in Miami (1980-2001). Prior to
earning a PhD in Public Administration from the University of Southern
California in 1974, he worked for the US government’s central personnel
agency (US Civil Service Commission, now US OPM), 1968-1973.
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Objectives
1. Review the history of networked relationships between
scholars and institutions in Mexico and the United States.
2. Discuss this collaboration in the context of long-term
relations between the two countries.
3. Present some “smart practice” recommendations for
building and maintaining effective research networks.
4. Use the ongoing “perfect storm” research agenda to
illustrate these recommendations in practice.
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1. History of Networked Relations
between Researchers and Institutions
in the US and Mexico
• Researchers in the US and Mexico have long collaborated
on comparative research leading to binational publications
and conference presentations.
• These have been institutionalized by cooperative
agreements:
– Between Mexico and the United States (Fulbright Garcia-Robles)
– Between Mexican and US professional associations (e.g., ASPA
MOUs with the Colegio Nacional de Ciencias Politicas y
Administración Publica [CNCPyAP] in 1992, and with the Instituto
Nacional de Administración Publica [INAP] in 2008.
– Among US and Mexican institutions of higher education (e.g.,
Binational Consortium for Public Administration Education [19982004], LAT-Net [2009 – present]).
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2. The Context of Relations between the US
and Mexico
• Historically, relations between the US and Mexico have
been complex, oscillating between conflict and cooperation
• When the two countries’ interests have coincided and
perceptions and ideas concerning common problems have
been similar, the result has been cooperative bilateral
policies and programs
• When the two countries’ perceptions and objectives have
diverged, their relationship has tended toward conflict, and
cooperative policies and programs have not been possible
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• In the US, perceptions of Mexico and Mexicans tend to
reflect the perceived negative consequences of Mexican
immigration – legal and illegal – on US state and local
education, public health and criminal justice systems
• While most Americans would grant that US economic
growth requires a ready supply of immigrant labor, many
also favor stricter controls on immigration to keep out
those who might take jobs from native-born Americans,
and to deport those who are in the US illegally
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In general, Americans are poorly informed about how Mexicans
see them. Many Americans don’t know, for example, that:
• For over 300 years, the southwest US (Texas, Arizona, New
Mexico, southern Colorado and California) was part of Mexico
(Nueva España); historically, Mexicans have freely moved
back and forth across the Río Grande/Río Bravo “border”
• Mexicans view migration to the US from the perspective of
their own domestic political, social and economic concerns
• Mexicans generally believe that Americans and the US are
prejudiced against them and their country; as evidence, they
point to “the wall,” to incoherent and unjust US immigration
policies and to the US tendency to downplay its Hispanic roots
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• Mexicans view the US with ambivalence. As President
Porfirio Díaz (1877-1881, 1884-1911) once said, “Poor
Mexico, so far from God and so close to the United States.”
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3. Recommendations for Building
Sustainable Research Networks
• In general:
– Model effective partnership strategies based on reciprocal
professional respect and personal trust.
– Learn the other country’s language, culture and institutions.
– Focus on long-term relationships rather than short-term contracts.
– Focus on strengthening networks rather than creating hierarchies. It’s
much easier to do things if you don’t insist on controlling networks or
getting individual credit (personal or institutional) for their
accomplishments.
– Build networks by focusing sponsored research on deliverables.
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• With respect to Mexico and the United States, focus on
long-term shared strategic interests and objectives:
– The US is Mexico’s largest trading partner and foreign investor;
Mexico is the US’s third largest trading partner after Canada and
China, and the US’s second largest foreign supplier of oil.
– 2014 marks the 20th anniversary of the signing of NAFTA by
Mexico, Canada and the US, intended to promote the movement
of goods, services, and finances across North America. With freer
movement of labor, the result would be an integrated economic
powerhouse capable of competing with China and the European
Union.
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•
Frame current policy crises as opportunities as well as
threats, and present them as strategic “intermestic”
research objectives when preparing conference
presentations, book proposals and grant proposals.
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The movement of Central American refugees across
Mexico into the US, or the threat to Mexico and the US
posed by drug trafficking and transnational criminal
organizations (TCOs), are opportunities to use crossnational research to build governance in both countries.
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Three recommended strategies for building
research networks in higher education:
• Share individual and institutional cooperative research in
the US and Mexico as widely as possible (tie knowledge
management or organizational learning and networked
institutional effectiveness). Once face-to-face
relationships are established, build them through
electronic communications and social media.
• Strengthen public administration capacity through
networks of schools, institutes of public administration,
and professional associations across both countries
• Build ASPA’s “good governance worldwide” website
(2012) http://www.aspaonline.org/global/index.html
and other social media tools that provide virtual support
for professional public administration and public service
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4. A Case Study: The “Perfect Storm”
Research Agenda
• Origin: It began with a March 2012 ASPA pre-conference
workshop sponsored by the International Chapter and the
Section on Certified Public Management, and a March
2012 conference at BUAP (Puebla, Mexico) on policy
recommendations for the next (2012-2018) Mexican
Presidential administration
• Outcome: It has resulted in two books co-edited by Don
Klingner and Roberto Moreno (of UNAM and UAEMex);
contracts with Taylor & Francis and Miguel Angel Pórrua;
simultaneous publication in English and Spanish; intended
audience of academics, students and policy-makers
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• Contributing Authors: 15 chapters by international, Mexican
and US experts – academics, elected/appointed officials,
practitioners, business and civic leaders, and the media
• Objective: These chapters place drug trafficking and TCOs in
the context of underlying issues and perceptions –
Mexico: democracy and citizenship, economic development,
employment and competitiveness, social policy (education,
health and poverty), political and electoral reform,
intergovernmental relations, social equity, public safety and
the administration of justice
US: national defense, immigration, economic development,
social equity, law enforcement and the “War on Drugs” 16
• Coordination through conference panels:
– International Conference on Governance sponsored by IAPEM,
BUAP and UAEM in Hermosillo (2012).
– LAT-Net: Mexico (2013) and Albuquerque (2014).
– CLAD: Cartagena (2012), Montevideo (2013) and Quito (2014)
– ASPA: New Orleans (2013), Washington (2014), and Chicago
(2015).
• Use the performance Incentives for international
publications and conference presentations built into the
Mexican national evaluation system for researchers (SNI).
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Thank you for Your Interest –
Questions and Comments?
Donald Klingner
Distinguished Professor
School of Public Affairs
University of Colorado Colorado Springs
[email protected] (303) 596-2405
[email protected] (719) 255-4012
http://sites.google.com/site/donaldklingner
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