Mexico, the Americas, and the world, 2004-2014: ten years of public opinion and foreign policy

Abstract

Mexico, the Americas, and the World is a research project of the Division of International Studies at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (cide), which is dedicated to the study of social attitudes and political culture of Mexicans with respect to Foreign Policy and International Relations. The project began in Mexico in 2004, and from 2008, it transformed into a regional Latin American project, which consists of a biennial survey based on representative samples of the national population and, in some countries, on groups of leaders. It is a rigorous instrument that gathers original and reliable information about the opinions, attitudes, evaluations, beliefs, interests, aspirations, feelings, social values, and behaviors of citizens regarding international issues. The main objective of the study is to provide empirical, objective, and rigorous information in a strategic area for Mexico and Latin America, where independent and reliable data is scarce and scattered. The precise knowledge of citizens’ perceptions of how the world works and how it should work is an essential tool for the evaluation of the degree of legitimacy of the institutions, rules and actors in the international system and of government performance in foreign policy matters. Therefore, this information provides inputs for academic research and the decision-making of actors and institutions, both public and private.