The two Mexicos

London – “In establishing the rule of law, the first five centuries are always the hardest.” For much of the past two decades that quip by Gordon Brown, a former British prime minister, has seemed not just dour, but wrong. Buoyed by China, by trade growth and capital inflows, by talk of new middle classes and the bottom billion, it was easy to forget old truths about how hard it is for poor countr...