Is Narco‐Violence in M exico Terrorism?

Mexico's drug ‘war’ produced 100,000 deaths between 2006 and 2012. The extreme violence has raised the notion that M exico has become a failed state wracked by terrorism. We categorise the forms of narco‐violence in M exico in light of the literature on terrorism and contemporary M exican polit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Bulletin of Latin American research 2014-04, Vol.33 (2), p.158-173
Main Authors: CAMPBELL, HOWARD, HANSEN, TOBIN
Format: Article
Language:English
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Summary:Mexico's drug ‘war’ produced 100,000 deaths between 2006 and 2012. The extreme violence has raised the notion that M exico has become a failed state wracked by terrorism. We categorise the forms of narco‐violence in M exico in light of the literature on terrorism and contemporary M exican politics. Our study suggests three overlapping dimensions of narco‐violence that should be considered terrorism: (a) narco‐terror as a struggle for regional political control; (b) narco‐terror as a practice ordered by cartel leaders rather than spontaneous violence of foot soldiers; and (c) narco‐terror as an expansion strategy from solely drug trafficking to other kinds of organised crime.
ISSN:0261-3050
1470-9856
DOI:10.1111/blar.12145