Undermining the Rule of Law: Democratization and the Dark Side of Police Reform in Mexico

This article asks whether democratization, under certain historical conditions, may relate to the deteriorating rule of law. Focusing on Mexico City, where police corruption is significant, this study argues that the institutionalized legacies of police power inherited from Mexico's one-party s...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Latin American politics and society 2006-04, Vol.48 (1), p.55-86
Main Author: Davis, Diane E.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Administration of justice
Authoritarianism (Political Ideology)
Citizenship
City politics
Civil rights
Collective security
Corruption
Crime
Criminal investigations
Democracy
Democratization
Government corruption
Governmental reform
Kidnapping
Latin American politics
Latin American studies
Law
Mayors
Mexico
Murders & murder attempts
One-party system
Police
Police administration
Police corruption
Police services
Policy Reform
Political change
Political leaders
Political parties
Political sociology
Politics
Public policy
Reforms
Riot control
Rule of law
Social order
Violence
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Summary:This article asks whether democratization, under certain historical conditions, may relate to the deteriorating rule of law. Focusing on Mexico City, where police corruption is significant, this study argues that the institutionalized legacies of police power inherited from Mexico's one-party system have severely constrained its newly democratic state's efforts to reform the police. Mexico's democratic transition has created an environment of partisan competition that, combined with decentralization of the state and fragmentation of its coercive and administrative apparatus, exacerbates intrastate and bureaucratic conflicts. These factors prevent the government from reforming the police sufficiently to guarantee public security and earn citizen trust, even as the same factors reduce capacity, legitimacy, and citizen confidence in both the police and the democratically elected state. This article suggests that when democracy serves to undermine rather than strengthen the rule of law, more democracy can actually diminish democracy and its quality.
ISSN:1531-426X
1548-2456
DOI:10.1111/j.1548-2456.2006.tb00338.x