23. Mexico

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andreas Schedler
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Presidential Elections ◽  
Regime Change ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Criminal Violence ◽  
Electoral Authoritarianism ◽  
History Of

This chapter examines Mexico’s gradual and largely peaceful transition to democracy, followed by a sudden descent into civil war. In the closing decades of the twentieth century, Mexico’s major challenge was political democratization. Today, it is organized criminal violence. Vicente Fox’s victory in the presidential elections of 2000 ended more than seventy years of hegemonic party rule. However, a civil war soon broke out, sparking a pandemic escalation of violence related to organized crime. The chapter first traces the history of Mexico from its independence in 1821 to the Mexican Revolution of 1910–1920 before discussing the foundations of electoral authoritarianism in the country. It then considers the structural bases of regime change in Mexico, along with the process of democratization by elections. It concludes by analysing why a civil war broke out in Mexico following its transition to democracy.

Beyond Istanbul's ‘Laz Underworld’: Ottoman Paramilitarism and the Rise of Turkish Organised Crime, 1908–1950

2010 ◽  
Vol 19 (3) ◽  
pp. 215-230 ◽  
Author(s):  
RYAN GINGERAS
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Organised Crime ◽  
Drug Trade ◽  
General Survey ◽  
Turkish Republic ◽  
Global Context ◽  
History Of ◽  
Imperial Politics ◽  
Modern Turkey

AbstractAlthough the Turkish mafia is increasingly recognised as a powerful force in the ongoing trade in weapons, narcotics and people in Europe and beyond, there are few critical histories of organised crime's origins in Turkey. Rather than present some pedantic general survey of the history of organized crime in modern Turkey, this essay attempts to address two broader critical points of departure. First, how did Anatolia's journey from imperial to republican rule impact, and how was it impacted by, criminal gangs? Second, how do we situate the experience of modern gangs in Turkey in a global context? In attempting to answer these questions, this paper looks at the development of criminal syndicates among Laz migrants in the greater Istanbul area during the first half of the twentieth century. The case of the Laz shows particularly how war, migration, imperial politics, urbanisation and the rise of the international drug trade shaped the parallel development of organised crime and the nascent Turkish Republic.

A Brief History of the Underworld and Organized Crime, c. 1750–1950

2016 ◽  
Author(s):  
Heather Shore
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
North American ◽  
Criminal Activity ◽  
Criminal Organization ◽  
Street Gangs ◽  
Modern Period ◽  
History Of

This chapter explores the evolution of concepts and definitions relating to criminal organization since 1750. Terms such as the “underworld,” “organized crime,” and “professional crime” have increasingly become part of the criminal justice lexicon in the modern period. However, while there has been a strong tradition of criminological and sociological investigation into the structures and hierarchies of syndicated crime and street gangs in the first half of the twentieth century, much of this work has been dominated and implicitly shaped by North American contexts. The hidden nature of such criminal activity means that most attention has been paid to those offenders whose recidivism and notoriety brought them into public disrepute. Thus, historians’ investigations into organized crime have been characteristically limited. This chapter provides a broader overview of the historical chronologies and geographies of the “underworld” and explores the key historical studies into the organization of crime in the modern period.

Missing Millions: The Demographic Costs of the Mexican Revolution

2003 ◽  
Vol 19 (2) ◽  
pp. 367-400 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert McCaa
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
International Conflict ◽  
Mexican Revolution ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
The Past ◽  
Human Cost ◽  
History Of ◽  
Age And Sex ◽  
The Revolution

The Mexican Revolution was a demographic disaster, but there is little agreement about the human cost or its demographic components. Were the missing millions due to war deaths, epidemics, emigration, lost births, or simply census error or evasion? Reading the demographic history of the Revolution from a subsequent census, such as the highly regarded enumeration of 1930, yields more precise figures than those obtained from the usual benchmark, the census of 1921. The 1930 figures are of better quality and, therefore, more suitable for making an assessment by age and sex. This analysis shows that in terms of lives lost, the Mexican Revolution was a demographic catastrophe, comparable to the Spanish Civil War, which has been ranked the ninth deadliest international conflict over the past two centuries. La Revolucióón Mexicana fue un desastre demográáfico; sin embargo, no existe consenso en el monto de la péérdida demográáfica ni de sus componentes. ¿¿Los millones perdidos fueron por la emigracióón, la mortalidad por epidemias, las muertes por la guerra, la caíída en el núúmero de nacimientos, o simplemente error estadíístico? Leyendo la historia demográáfica de la Revolucióón de un censo posterior, como por ejemplo el de 1930, ya que goza de reconocimiento por su calidad y confiabilidad, puede llevarse a cifras, por sexo y edad, mejor fundamentadas. En téérminos de las péérdidas de vidas, las nuevas estimaciones colocan a la Revolucióón Mexicana, junto con la Guerra Civil Españñola, como la novena guerra con mayor mortalidad en el contexto internacional, en los úúltimos dos siglos.

A Shabby Meanness

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Camille Walsh
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Civil Rights ◽  
Early History ◽  
Right To Education ◽  
Legal Identity ◽  
History Of ◽  
Civil War Era ◽  
The Way

Chapter One introduces the early history of taxpayer civil rights litigation against segregated and unequal education from the post-Civil War era until the turn of the twentieth century. In these 19th century cases and opinions, there was a continual assertion of a legal identity as taxpayers by families of color, and this chapter traces the way taxpayer citizenship became linked to the idea of a right to education in these families' arguments and claims, and even occasionally in the judges' opinions. Nonetheless, even the victories in many of these segregation cases were in name only, as plaintiffs of color continued to struggle without adequate remedy after courts granted a superficial nod to their taxpayer claims.

The Gem of the Prairie

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Robert M. Lombardo
Keyword(s):  
Civil War ◽  
Significant Role ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Campaign Contributions ◽  
The South ◽  
South Side ◽  
The Public ◽  
History Of ◽  
Machine Politics

This chapter traces the history of vice and crime in Chicago from the Civil War until the beginning of Prohibition, paying special attention to the rise of machine politics under Michael Cassius McDonald, organizer of Chicago's first crime syndicate. It argues that organized crime in Chicago was not imported from the south of Italy but began because Chicago machine politicians provided political protection to vice syndicates and criminal gangs in exchange for votes and campaign contributions. The chapter reviews the history of one vice district that played a significant role in the development of organized crime in Chicago, the Levee, beginning with the original Custom House Levee and its eventual movement to the “New” Levee in the city's Near South Side. It also discusses the roles played by municipal aldermen John Coughlin and Michael Kenna as protectors of vice and crime in Chicago's First Ward. Finally, it analyzes the history of the public outcry against segregated vice and the eventual closure of the Levee vice district.

Policing Practices as a Vehicle for Brutalization: The Case of Spain’s Civil Guard, 1934–1936

2020 ◽  
Vol 50 (4) ◽  
pp. 650-668
Author(s):  
Foster Chamberlin
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Similar Pattern ◽  
Spanish Civil War ◽  
Police Force ◽  
Spanish Society ◽  
Entire Country ◽  
History Of ◽  
Civil Guard

This article offers a new explanation for why brutalization occurred in only some parts of Europe in the first half of the twentieth century. The presence of veterans hardened by war was not enough for a broader brutalization of society to take place; the presence of pre-existing institutions with experience repressing civilian populations was also necessary so that their methods could then be applied more broadly by those in favour of employing brutality in political contestation and warfare. This article examines the repression of the rebellion of October 1934 in the Asturias region and the beginning of the Spanish Civil War as examples of this chain of events. Spain’s militarized police force, the Civil Guard, had a long history of dealing harshly with those who challenged the liberal regimes of the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. In the suppression of the Asturias revolt, colonial officers were able to apply the Civil Guard’s pre-existing methods on a wider scale in their effort to cleanse Spanish society of radical elements. In the Civil War, they extended a similar pattern of repression across the entire country.

From Resistance to National Reconciliation: The Response and Role of the Ecumenical Church in South Africa

2004 ◽  
Vol 40 ◽  
pp. 369-384
Author(s):  
John W. de Gruchy
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
South African ◽  
Democratic Transition ◽  
Transition To Democracy ◽  
Nazi Germany ◽  
Christian Church ◽  
History Of ◽  
National Reconciliation

Scattered through the history of the Christian Church are seminal moments that have shaped the future course of Christianity whether for good or ill. When later historians of Christianity will write about the twentieth century, I anticipate that they will refer to the role of the Churches in Nazi Germany and apartheid South Africa as paradigmatic both in terms of success and failure. They might also refer to the role of the Christian Church in the transition to democracy in both countries in similar terms. In what follows I will offer some reflections on the South African side of the story, briefly tracing the response and role of what I have termed the ‘Ecumenical Church’ in South Africa to African resistance, democratic transition and national reconciliation.

Don Quijote of La Mancha: Symbol of the Spanish Spirit

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tara Downs
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Civil War ◽  
Miguel De Unamuno ◽  
Spanish Poetry ◽  
Miguel De Cervantes ◽  
Don Quijote ◽  
Relevant Today ◽  
La Mancha ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sancho Panza

In his masterpiece Don Quijote of La Mancha, Miguel de Cervantes uses protagonists Don Quijote and his squire, Sancho Panza, to discuss various important themes, including the juxtaposition of reality and illusion, and the Spanish culture itself—both of which continue to be relevant today.  He attributes ideas such as illusion and idealism to Don Quijote, and reality and realism to Sancho Panza.  All of these attributes can be applied to Spain, a country with a history full of contrasts.  This is especially clear through the history of Spain in the twentieth century.  At this time Spain lost its last colonies, had a civil war which resulted in a 36 year dictatorship, and, obtained freedom with the death of Franco in 1975.  This study examines poems by writers such as Miguel de Unamuno, Miguel Hernández, and Mario Hernández and analyses the attitudes present towards each of these historic events.  In doing so, it becomes clear that the Spanish mindset shifts between moments of“quijotismo” and moments of “sanchismo.” Therefore, this study aims to demonstrate that by analyzing twentieth century Spanish poetry, it is clear that Cervantes’ masterpiece Don Quijote serves as the symbol of the Spanish spirit throughout history.

Chicago Heights and Organized Crime

2017 ◽  
Author(s):  
Louis Corsino
Keyword(s):  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
Social Conditions ◽  
The Social ◽  
Look Back ◽  
History Of ◽  
Historical Developments ◽  
The City

Chicago Heights was a twentieth-century city. The defining movements of the century—urbanization, industrialization, and immigration—tell much of the city's history and provide an understanding of the social conditions leading to the emergence of organized crime. This chapter takes a brief look back at these historical developments as they played themselves out in the Chicago Heights context. Following this, it traces the history of the vice operations in Chicago Heights from their beginning in the early 1900s, to their union with the Chicago Outfit in the 1920s, to their ascendance and decline throughout the remainder of the century. The chapter suggests that the rise development and decline of the Chicago Heights Outfit run parallel in many ways to the fortunes of the city.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document