State, Violence, and Security in Mexico

2014 ◽  
Vol 30 (1) ◽  
pp. 241-255 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos Solar
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Twentieth Century ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
State Violence ◽  
Public Security ◽  
Stanford University ◽  
Drug War ◽  
Criminal Violence ◽  
State Responses

Paul Kenny, Mónica Serrano with Arturo Sotomayor, eds., Mexico's Security Failure, Collapse into Criminal Violence (New York: Routledge, 2012). Wil G. Pansters, ed., Violence, Coercion, and State-Making in Twentieth-Century Mexico (Stanford: Stanford University Press, 2012). George Philip and Susana Berruecos, eds., Mexico's Struggle for Public Security: Organized Crime and State Responses (New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2012). Peter Watt and Roberto Zepeda, Drug War Mexico: Politics, Neoliberalism and Violence in the New Narcoeconomy (London and New York: Zed, 2012).

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.

Mafias on the Move

2011 ◽  
Author(s):  
Federico Varese
Keyword(s):  
United States ◽  
New York ◽  
Organized Crime ◽  
The United States ◽  
The West ◽  
Market Expansion ◽  
The North ◽  
Economic Transformations ◽  
At Will

Organized crime is spreading like a global virus as mobs take advantage of open borders to establish local franchises at will. That at least is the fear, inspired by stories of Russian mobsters in New York, Chinese triads in London, and Italian mafias throughout the West. As this book explains, the truth is more complicated. The author has spent years researching mafia groups in Italy, Russia, the United States, and China, and argues that mafiosi often find themselves abroad against their will, rather than through a strategic plan to colonize new territories. Once there, they do not always succeed in establishing themselves. The book spells out the conditions that lead to their long-term success, namely sudden market expansion that is neither exploited by local rivals nor blocked by authorities. Ultimately the inability of the state to govern economic transformations gives mafias their opportunity. In a series of matched comparisons, the book charts the attempts of the Calabrese 'Ndrangheta to move to the north of Italy, and shows how the Sicilian mafia expanded to early twentieth-century New York, but failed around the same time to find a niche in Argentina. The book explains why the Russian mafia failed to penetrate Rome but succeeded in Hungary. A pioneering chapter on China examines the challenges that triads from Taiwan and Hong Kong find in branching out to the mainland. This book is both a compelling read and a sober assessment of the risks posed by globalization and immigration for the spread of mafias.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document