Hybrid governance in Latin America A case study of the response of Mexican criminal syndicates to the COVID-19 pandemic Wordcount: 20282 International Master in Security Intelligence and Strategic Studies 2409572N 29/07/2021 Abstract In the academia, long dominated by a Western state-centric approach, the idea of the coexistence of different orders of social domination emerged in the nineties. It set the premises for the academic literature on hybrid governance. This research area is very recent and still developing. Hence, the fields of application of this concept in the academic literature are diverse but still too limited. Therefore, this dissertation arises from the consideration that it would be interesting to further investigate the applicability of this under-exploited notion. In particular, it looks at criminal organizations in Latin America through the case study of Mexican drug cartels amid the pandemic. This case presents the key characteristics of hybridity, hence making it a relevant tool to analyze it. The finding of the possibility of the applicability of hybrid governance as an analytical lens to understand Mexican drug cartels during the pandemic suggests the possibility to expand the field of application of this concept. It leads to a broader reflection on hybrid governance schemes with...

The terrorist attacks upon the United States of America, as perpetrated by Al Qaeda operatives on September 11, 2001, has resulted in profound changes of policy and_ action in Washington. The blissful ignorance of many was awaken to the shattering reality of the threat from unconventional warfare at the hands of extremist organizations. The following review and analysis of terrorism at the U.S.-Mexico border seeks to assess the threat on a more personal basis. All too often we associate terrorism with the Middle East and Asia, not coming to grips with realities faced close to home on a daily basis. The terrorist acts of violence by both criminal and religious extremist groups are resulting in a massive loss of life throughout the world. This paper seeks to address those acts of terror and violence on our southern border. While international terrorist groups have yet to succeed in another attack on American soil, many experts believe that it is now only a matter of time.

This study examines elite discourse about crime and criminality in modern Mexico. This discourse was intimately connected to discussions of citizenship (and thus inclusion in the Mexican nation-state) which became increasingly important after Independence from Spain in 1821. Elites recognized that a broad, egalitarian definition of citizenship was a potent source of legitimation for a nation in the throes of self-definition. To these discussions of citizenship, discourse about crime and criminality added an effective counterpoint, identifying individuals and groups within the new nation that merited exclusion. Specifically, this study examines the emerging discourses of criminology and penology which attempted to bring a rational, even scientific approach to the long-standing problem of crime. These "liberal" discourses (and the criminal justice system they inspired) eschewed the overtly racist and classist legal legacy of Mexico's colonial past. However, despite their egalitarian pretensions, criminology and penology often rearticulated colonial social distinctions, first by covertly embedding traditional biases in a contradictory liberal rhetoric and later by legitimizing these prejudices with evolutionary science. Ultimately, little changed in post-Independence Mexican social relations: the poor, the indio, the mestizo continued to be excluded from participation in mainstream society, not because they were legally segregated as in the colonial period but because of their supposed criminality. Even Mexico's great social revolution generated few effective changes. Like their predecessors, revolutionary elites attempted to exploit the legitimizing potential of the criminal justice system but again without significantly redefining its basic clientele. The socially-marginal continued to pose a threat to public order and economic progress; thus they continued to be excluded from public life. Within this larger context, specific chapters also function as independent essays: chapter one examines the racist and classist subtexts embedded in post-Enlightenment, "classic" criminology; chapter two, the role of evolutionary science in legitimizing these subtexts; chapter three, the use of popular literary techniques in the construction of "scientific" criminology; chapter four, the place of prison reform in Mexican political discourse; and chapter five, the role of penal code reform in political legitimation.

This dissertation examines how parties respond and adapt their behavior to political violence. Building a theoretical argument about strategic party behavior and party capture, I address the following questions: How do parties select and recruit their candidates in regions with high levels of violence and the pervasive presence of VNAs? Do parties respond to violence by selecting certain types of candidates who are more capable of fighting these organizations? Do parties react differently at different levels of government? And finally, how do VNSAs capture political selection across at different levels of government? I argue that in regions where there is high "uncertainty," candidate selection becomes highly important for both party leaders and DTOs. Second, I argue that as violence increases and the number of DTOs also, criminal organizations, as risk-averse actors, will capture candidate selection. I posit that as violence increases, there is a greater likelihood that candidates will have criminal connections. To test my theory, I use the case of Mexico. Violence in Mexico and the presence of criminal organizations across the country has experienced a great deal of variation since the 1990s. In Chapter 2, I find that violence affects the gubernatorial candidate selection of the PRI, PAN and PRD. In high violence states, parties select gubernatorial candidates with long experience in subnational politics compared to other types of experiences. In chapter 3, however, I find that at the municipal level not all the parties respond equally to violence. As a municipality becomes more violent, the PRI and PAN party leaders are more likely to select mayoral candidates who were either state or federal deputies or candidates who were both. In contrast, the PRD is likely to recruit state deputies as a function of violence, but not national deputies or candidates who were deputies at both the state and federal level. Interestingly, I find that as the municipality becomes more violent, party leaders are less likely to recruit inexperienced candidates. This result suggests that parties do indeed respond to levels of violence. Finally, in Chapter 5, I show that criminal organizations capture candidate selection to reduce uncertainty. As utility-maximizing actors, DTOs seek to influence the selection of candidates as a function of violence. At the state level, criminal organizations are more likely to capture candidate selection in states with the presence of multiple DTOs. Party capture is more likely to happen in states where more than one DTO are fighting to control the turf. I show that criminal organizations at the state level equally capture all parties. This finding reveals that DTOs are diversifying their political connections. While under the dominant party regime, they colluded with PRI officials, under the new political Mexican democratic configuration, DTOs are establishing other political relationships with different political parties.