Organized crime & democratic governability : Mexico and the U.S.-Mexican borderlands / edited by John Bailey and Roy Godson.

Format:

Book

Contributor:

Bailey, John J., editor.

Godson, Roy, 1942- editor.

Series:

Pitt Latin American series.

Pitt Latin American Series

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Organized crime--Mexico.

Organized crime.

Organized crime--Political aspects--Mexico.

Organized crime--Mexican-American Border Region.

Mexico--Politics and government--1988-2000.

Mexico.

Genre:

Aufsatzsammlung.

Electronic books.

Physical Description:

1 online resource (284 p.)

Edition:

1st ed.

Place of Publication:

[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania] : University of Pittsburgh Press, 2000.

Language Note:

English

Summary:

The United States-Mexico border zone is one of the busiest and most dangerous in the world. NAFTA and rapid industrialization on the Mexican side have brought trade, travel, migration, and consequently, organized crime and corruption to the region on an unprecedented scale. Until recently, crime at the border was viewed as a local law enforcement problem with drug trafficking-a matter of "beefing" up police and "hardening" the border. At the turn of the century, that limited perception has changed. The range of criminal activity at the border now extends beyond drugs to include smuggling of arms, people, vehicles, financial instruments, environmentally dangerous substances, endangered species, and archeological objects. Such widespread trafficking involves complex, high-level criminal-political alliances that local lawenforcement alone can't address. Researchers of the region, as well as officials from both capitals, now see the border as a set of systemic problems that threaten the economic, political, and social health of their countries as a whole. Organized Crime and Democratic Governability brings together scholars and specialists, including current and former government officials, from both sides of the border to trace the history and define the reality of this situation. Their diverse perspectives place the issue of organized crime in historical, political, economic, and cultural contexts unattainable by single-author studies. Contributors examine broad issues related to the political systems of both countries, as well as the specific actors-crime gangs, government officials, prosecutors, police, and the military-involved in the ongoing drama of the border. Editors Bailey and Godson provide an interpretive frame, a "continuum of governability, " that will guide researchers and policymakers toward defining goals and solutions to the complex problem that, along with a border, the United States and Mexico now share.

Contents:

The nexus of organized crime and politics in Mexico / Stanley A. Pimentel

Organized crime and the organization / Luis Astorga

Organized crime and political campaign finance in Mexico / Leonardo Curzio

Scope and limits of an act of good faith: the PAN's experience at the head of the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic / Sigrid Arzt

Containing armed groups, drug trafficking, and organized crime in Mexico: the role of the military / Raúl Benítez Manaut

The historical dynamics of smuggling in the U.S.-Mexican border region, 1550-1998: reflections on markets, cultures, and bureaucracies / Louis R. Sadler

Organized crime and democratic governability at the U.S.-Mexico border: border zone dynamics / Francisco Javier Molina Ruiz

Mexican drug syndicates in California / Elias Castillo and Peter Unsinger.

Notes:

Includes index.

Description based on print version record.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN:

9780822972297

0822972298

OCLC:

619008567