Mexico's Struggle for Public Security Organized Crime and State Responses

Organized crime in Mexico has been responsible for a worrying increase in violence in that country since Felipe Calderon assumed the presidency in 2006. The country's main criminal gangs are now a real challenge to the Mexican state. Government policies aimed at combating that threat have not been very successful to date. While it is certainly possible to exaggerate the threat posed by organized crime to the Mexican state, the real problems posed are serious enough. This book considers the issue from a variety of viewpoints. The essential argument is that the organized crime is best combated by institutional reforms directed at strengthening the rule of law and winning over public opinion rather than by a heavy reliance on armed force. Some such reforms have indeed taken place in Mexico, and are discussed in the book.

George Philip is a professor of Comparative and Latin American Politics at the London School of Economics, a position he has held since 2001. He is the author of several book, including The Presidency in Mexican Politics (1992) and Democracy in Latin America (2003). Susana Berruecos is a visiting fellow at the London School of Economics. She holds a doctorate in Government and an MSc in Public Administration and Public Policy from the LSE, as well as a bachelors degree in Political Science from the Instituto Technolgico Autnomo de Mxico (TAM). In the academic arena she has been a lecturer in Mexico and London, as well as a visiting fellow at Georgetown University. She has published on democratization and electoral institutions and was advisor to the Presidency from 1994 to 1996 and at the Federal Electoral Institute (IFE) from 2003 to 2010.