Tuesday, March 10, 2026
12:00 p.m. - 1:00 p.m. EDT
The process of democratization in Mexico focused on building the institutional and procedural conditions necessary to establish a genuine constitutional democracy in order to overcome the authoritarian regime that was constructed in post-revolutionary Mexico in the twentieth century.
These conditions were built upon four pillars:
- Openness to pluralism and its effective reflection in the organs of political representation;
- An electoral system that would allow for free and genuine elections;
- The construction of a judicial branch that would serve as a counterweight to the political powers; and
- The creation of a series of autonomous bodies that would oversee and check the all levels of government.
Since the 2018 rise to power of the Movimiento de Regeneración Nacional (National Regeneration Movement, Morena), these four pillars have been subjected to constant attack. The Georgetown Americas Institute is pleased to host a conversation with GAI Resident Fellow Lorenzo Córdova to explain and analyze this phenomenon and its implications for Mexican constitutional democracy. The session will be moderated by GAI Founding Director Alejandro Werner.
Featuring
Lorenzo Córdova is a Mexican constitutional scholar and public intellectual specializing in electoral law, constitutional theory, and democratic governance. He earned a law degree from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and holds a Ph.D. in political theory from the University of Turin, Italy. He is a full-time Researcher “B” at UNAM’s Legal Research Institute and is recognized by Mexico’s National System of Researchers (SNI) as a Level III National Researcher, the highest distinction awarded by the program. Córdova is also a professor of constitutional theory and constitutional law at the UNAM Law School. His public service career includes serving as electoral councilor of the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) from December 2011 to April 2014, followed by his tenure as councilor president of the National Electoral Institute (INE) from April 2014 to April 2023. A prolific author, Córdova has written, co-written, or coordinated more than a dozen books on constitutionalism, democracy, and political theory. His most recent work is La democracia constitucional en riesgo. Los autoritarios no descansan (2024). He is currently a weekly video columnist for Latinus, a columnist for El Universal, and a frequent contributor to specialized journals and broadcast media.
Alejandro Werner is the founding director of the Georgetown Americas Institute and a non-resident senior fellow at the Peterson Institute. He recently completed almost nine years as director of the Western Hemisphere Department at the International Monetary Fund. Prior to that appointment, he was undersecretary of finance and public credit in Mexico’s Finance Ministry and held several positions in that ministry and the Central Bank. He also taught at leading universities in Mexico, Spain, and the United States. He holds a Ph.D. in economics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a B.A. in economics from ITAM.