POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC CHANGES

Political and Economic changes at the outset of the 21st century

[Name of the Institute]

Political and Economic changes at the outset of the 21st century

Countries Selected

The two countries that would be discussed in this paper are Columbia and Mexico. Both of the Countries located in American continents. Columbia located in South America, whereas, Mexico located in Middle America. Citizens of both the countries speak Spanish as a dialect to interact among themselves. Santa fe de Bogotá or Bogotá is the capital of Columbia with an estimated total population of 7,342,569 people as of 2010. Mexico City is the capital of Mexico with an estimated total population of 8,560,994 people as of 2010.

Political/Economic stance of leaders in Columbia

In August 2010, Colombia's new president Juan Manuel took an official oath. He did a speech, and in the opening of his speech, he made it clear that the country will have improved relationship with its neighboring countries. He also claimed the reduction in corruption, and improvement in education. The president wants to go against militant-rebel and groups to make sure that there is no corruption in the country. However, he stood firmly with the dialogue of Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, if they renounced their campaign of violence. He planned of improving the foreign investment, as it will help in developing the country. Thus, he diversified the exports with Latin America, Asia, and Europe.

Political/ Economic stance of leaders in Mexico Felipe Calderon inaugurated as Mexico's new president in December 2006. His birth year was 1962. His interest was in law, so he studied it at the Independent School of Law in Mexico. He took his Master's Degree in Economics from the Mexico Autonomous Technology Institute, and another Master's Degree in Public Administration at Harvard University's Kennedy School of Government. His foray into the world of politics happened in his early 20s when he led the youth wing of the National Action Party (PAN). In 1993, he became the General Secretary of PAN, and from 1996 to 1999, he was PAN's National President. Meanwhile, he has held various ministerial posts, including that of deputy in the legislature of Mexico City. As the new leader of Mexico, his priorities include dealing with crime, job creation, and managing fiscal policy.

Economically Mexico has transformed since the mid of 1990's. As a result, there was a rapid growth in building modern, diversified economy, improved infrastructure, etc. Now, the country has an open economy and improved political systems. Following an annual average growth of 3.9 percent from 2004 to 2007, Mexico's economy decelerated to 1.5 percent in 2008, and a large contrac0tion of 6.5 percent estimated in 2009 as a result of the global economic crisis. By 2010, growth had rebounded to an estimated 5 percent. Inflation increased sharply to 6.5 percent in 2008 from 3.8 percent in 2007 pushed by rising world commodity prices, but fell rapidly to around 3.5 percent in 2009 and an estimated 3.7 percent in 2010. Meanwhile, the fiscal deficit widened substantially ...