About our research...

La abogacía mexicana requiere de una nueva regulación para su ejercicio profesional que garantice el control ético, la defensa de la defensa y la adecuada formación profesional.

El precedente es una institución central de los sistemas jurídicos contemporáneos, la administración de justicia y el razonamiento judicial. La noción preliminar del concepto de precedente indica que se trata de ciertas resoluciones judiciales que son investidas con autoridad y cuya función, entre otras, es orientar las decisiones de los tribunales, sin embargo, su utilización plantea una serie de interrogantes y desafíos jurídicos. Se trata pues de una institución jurídica trascendental que está presente en diferentes sistemas jurídicos, cuyo concepto y elementos deben analizarse dado el papel central que juega en la concreción del Derecho. 

Se desarrolla trabajo de investigación en materia de Derecho del Comercio Internacional y Derecho de la Integración Económica en el marco de los tratados de libre comercio celebrados por México, mecanismos de solución de controversias y prácticas desleales de comercio.

From a trans-disciplinary perspective, this research group analyzes and discusses the legal framework of the energy sector, from its geopolitical progression to the possible social, economic and environmental implications it may pose for Mexico. This analysis considers international agreements signed by the Mexican government over issues such as human rights and foreign investment. The team endeavors to identify windows of opportunity, ensure industrial development within a sustainable framework, and guarantee the observance of individual and collective rights. Academics working in this group belong to centers that produce research on geophysics, engineering, chemistry, medicine, law, and psychology.

This group produces inter-disciplinary research (Law, Philology and History) on the classical sources of law in order to preserve, spread and renew legal tradition, applying it to the solution of today's social issues in Mexico and Latin America. The line of research translates and analyzes legal Roman texts in a permanent seminar of philologists, historians and jurists, cultivating the Virtual Romanist Library, which consists of over 500 books specialized on Roman law and Graeco-Roman culture.

This research group provides guidance and empirical research on several sectors of the informal economy for Mexican tax, administrative, regulatory and labor authorities. It also analyzes, by means of qualitative methods, the effectiveness and workings of government programs at state and federal levels for bringing the informal economy into formality.

This research group strives to open new fields of legal research related to medical science. It works through a permanent seminar that, within a human rights framework, analyzes the design of public policy and action plans regarding health in Mexico. Mexico's National Academy of Medicine, associations of medical experts, and the Network of Courts for Drug Treatment, sponsored by the OAS, collaborate in this group.

This research group studies and publishes works on structural violence in Mexico. This concept shows up in different ways in several fields of research, such as institutional violence, migration and mobility, environmental conflict, models of development and access to basic rights, the right to protest, and other issues. The team collaborates with colleagues from universities in Mexico, Brazil, El Salvador, Venezuela, Colombia, Argentina, the United States and other countries.

This research group studies international mobility and migration along with human rights, using an inter-disciplinary approach to understand these complex phenomena. Research focuses on analyzing the causes that bring about migration and mobility in or through Mexico, with a global perspective of the problem. The group works in conjunction with the University Study Seminar on Internal Displacement, Migration, Exile and Repatriation (Spanish acronym SUDIMER), which belongs to the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM.

In 2008, the Mexican justice model took a significant turn towards a system of penal prosecution. This research group produces empirical studies that analyze results of the hearings methodology, under parameters of utility and procedural law, to prove the effectiveness of the new system and find any working flaws. The group examines how long the accusatory penal procedure takes, in the areas of serving and administrating state and federal justice; it also evaluates alternative methods for solving controversies by using representative samples.

Las constantes reformas constitucionales y legales que se vienen produciendo en nuestro país, tienen injerencia -de manera directa o indirecta- en la materia penal. De manera particular, en los últimos años se ha experimentado una suerte de amplificación de la respuesta penal y procesal penal estatal para ciertos sectores de la criminalidad. Se trata, muy particularmente, del tratamiento penal y procesal penal que se dispone, incluso desde la Constitución Política de los Estados Unidos Mexicanos, para la llamada delincuencia organizada. Por tanto, resulta indispensable realizar investigaciones constantes sobre la materia. 

This research group, which reflects upon judiciary institution operating processes and decision making, is comprised of academics from different areas and disciplines of the IIJ as well as from other universities and research centers. The team gathers in a permanent study seminar examining varied issues related to justice and judiciary institutions in Mexico and other countries, using quantitative and qualitative methodological tools to observe and explain judiciary systems.

This research team attempts to strengthen and articulate academic research, discussion and production efforts regarding empirical legal studies in the IIJ and other Mexican academic institutions, in order to update the theory and methods of legal research. The group especially focuses on discussing articles that review judiciary decisions by means of qualitative methods and in-depth case analysis, or causal methods such as process tracing and counterfactual analysis, or even using ethnographic and historical analysis.

The goal of this research group is to analyze current political and penal trends in the Mexican State, when criminal law is used as an instrument for preventing and sanctioning persons and corporations that, themselves or through third parties, incur in behaviors. This research explores the economic and social effectiveness of applying these trends and discusses of the effects of other forms of punishment, such as administrative and civil responsibilities.

This research group analyzes the international system created after WWII, aiming to identify normative aspects and engineering issues of political organization that are out of date in current political, economic and social contexts. This team discusses proposals for a new institutional design; one that is based on a system of checks and balances, mechanisms for self-control, and, in general, international rule of law. Projects take a multi-disciplinary and inter-institutional academic position, with particular impact on the Latin American debate.

Trabajamos con aspectos de historia del derecho mexicano, derecho indiano y codificación, desarrollo del comercio y su organización.

Reflexión filosófica, desde una posición realista, acerca del deber de desarrollarse uno mismo lo mejor posible (honestidad), y del deber de servir a los demás en la familia, la nación y la comunidad internacional (justicia).

Las investigaciones tienen como objetivo general describir y explicar las prácticas que realizan las instituciones de seguridad pública para comprender mejor los problemas de vulneración sistemática de los derechos humanos. Para ello es necesario recurrir a distintas fuentes de información empírica sobre su actuación y resultados, así como considerar factores normativos, organizacionales y sociales. Entre estos últimos, un subtema de interés refiere a las percepciones y actitudes que la población en general tiene sobre las instituciones de seguridad y la legitimidad que otorga a prácticas violatorias de los derechos humanos.

This research group analyzes political processes, studies the design and procedures of democratic institutions for political representation, and explores the checks and balances systems that favor, or should favor, government accountability in Mexico and other countries.

Análisis romanista del artículo 27 constitucional, con el objeto de precisar lo que significa la propiedad originaria de la Nación sobre las tierras y las aguas, la propiedad privada sobre las tierras, y el dominio directo sobre los minerales del subsuelo, el petróleo, los recursos naturales de la plataforma continental y el espacio aéreo.

Las investigaciones en proceso del Dr. Francisco J. De Andrea Sánchez (2 libros y varios ensayos monográficos) tienen como eje común las interconexiones entre los temas de las finanzas de la política, los partidos, las elecciones, y las encuestas -temas tradicionalmente vinculados- y un "nuevo" tópico que es un ingrediente crucial para entender la anterior temática en su real complejidad  que es el fenómeno de la corrupción en sus distintas modalidades que "corroe" y secuestra a las instituciones, entidades y prácticas vinculadas a la referida temática.

En la actualidad, hay un aumento de familias internacionales, una evidente crisis de la propia institución y, por ende, un incremento de conflictos familiares transfronterizos. De esta manera, en aquellos supuestos donde hay menores y la relación de pareja truncada, nos enfrentamos al lamentable incremento de sustracciones internacionales de menores por parte de uno de sus progenitores en donde la mediación familiar internacional cobra un papel fundamental.

What do we do?

This research group critically reviews practices in legal research, to then promote new research methods taken from scientific findings. It diagnoses research quality and innovative tools for epistemology, theory and legal research methodology, as well as new ways to teach legal researching.

This team develops both research and academic products from an inter- or trans-disciplinary perspective when studying and analyzing problems, answers and proposals related to the different challenges posed against the exercise and enjoyment of the fundamental rights of children and teenagers. The research team opens new spaces for discussing, creating and evaluating public policies in favor of defending, observing and guaranteeing the rights and the protection of children and teenagers, policies that protect them from violence, abuse, exploitation and trafficking.

This research group analyzes legal problems and/or controversies derived from the interaction of public and private economic agents. It also scrutinizes the function and tasks of the regulation of economic activity, the principles and objectives that such regulation pursues, and the implications that its adoption may bring to markets and social structures. The application of regulatory theory and policies in Mexico is studied using a comparative approach, identifying negative impacts on politics, the economy and society.