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 Editorials | Issues | December 2007 
Mexico’s Rich and Powerful are Leaving Science Behind
 Patrick Corcoran - MexiData.info
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 |  | One of Mexico’s perennial curses is that its universities pump out so many social scientists and so few physical scientists. Given that, the dearth of Mexican Einsteins is no surprise, but it is nonetheless discouraging. |  | |
Any list of a country’s most powerful people is inherently flawed. After all, how can we say whether, for instance, Bill Clinton or Bill Gates or Alan Greenspan was the most influential in 1995? But rankings of the busiest movers and shakers, while not scientific, are still valuable; they’re fun to write, provoke argument among readers, and often provide insight into the sources of (or obstacles to) a country’s power.
Poder magazine’s annual catalogue of the most powerful Mexicans is no different. The recent issue devoted to the country’s most powerful includes a general section (presumably for the ten most powerful overall), and separate sections for the most powerful in politics, business, government, politics, journalism, culture, and the Church.
The first ten leaders on the list reveal a Mexico dominated by political power, specifically that of President Felipe Calderón. Of the ten, five are either close political allies or direct subordinates of the president (six, if you count teacher union chief Elba Esther Gordillo). In contrast, last year President Vicente Fox didn’t even appear in the first group of ten, which was dominated by those jockeying for power in the post-Fox regime. Instead, Fox himself was embarrassingly relegated to the group whose power was a thing of the past.
The presence of Calderonistas in the top ten demonstrates the degree to which the political chaos that plagued Mexico a year ago has disappeared. As has been the case throughout the nation’s history, political power has coalesced around the most powerful – Calderón.
While the scope of the president’s influence has been problematic in the past, the concentration of power in Calderón is better than the alternative. A year ago, Mexico seemed on the brink of collapse. Now the government is humming, having accomplished more legislatively in one year than it did in six with Fox. None of that would have been possible if Calderón had not so thoroughly cemented himself at the head of government.
The smattering of corporate leaders tells us a lot about Mexico’s business class, and what we learn is not good. The richest man in the world, Carlos Slim, is the first name on the list, although it’s unclear whether Poder is actually saying he’s the most powerful man in the country. (A question to Poder – were numbers too much to ask for?) Also appearing in the top ten is media baron Emilio Azcárraga, the king of Televisa (that also owns Poder).
So what’s wrong with that?
Well, Azcárraga and Slim, and a healthy portion of the 20 other figures in the business section, are products of protected industries. While the men (and they are all men) are very competent businessmen, their gigantic fortunes are derived more from government-sheltered monopolies than dynamic new brands. The billionaire class isn’t going to disappear anytime soon, but Mexico could use some balance between the old-line superrich and a new generation whose business acumen is based more on innovation. As the list demonstrates, Mexico’s business class is much more John Rockefeller than Steve Jobs.
The absence of anyone involved in science was also striking. One of Mexico’s (and Latin America’s) perennial curses is that its universities pump out so many social scientists and so few physical scientists. Given that, the dearth of Mexican Einsteins is no surprise, but it is nonetheless discouraging. In contrast, Time, in its recent list of a hundred influential Americans, found room for an entire section of 19 scientists and thinkers, ranging from astrophysicists to alien hunters to Al Gore.
The discrepancy can be partly explained that Time was listing most influential Americans rather than the most powerful, but for Mexico to vault into the top tier of economies, a little more scientific brainpower among the country’s leadership is essential. According to Goldman Sachs, in 2050 Mexico is going to have the world’s fifth biggest economy. That’s great, but such growth will be impossible without a more diversified economy, which will in turn require a stronger science base. (On the plus side, at least Mexico’s scientists weren’t outnumbered by drug dealers, as was the case in last year’s list.)
How else the composition of Poder’s annual list will differ in 2050 is anybody’s guess. Next year, we should be content with just the emergence of a few young business innovators and science superstars.
Patrick Corcoran, a MexiData.info columnist, is a writer who resides in Torreón, Coahuila. He can be reached at corcoran25(at)hotmail.com. |
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