The militarization of public security in Mexico, 1994-1998

Abstract

This article argues that the militarization of public security in Mexico is not an anti-crime strategy but a mechanism for the authoritarian integration of the new Mexican society produced by neoliberalism. It a) describes the militarization of public security as a gradual, discreet and strategic process; b) examines its internal and external causes; c) explains its perverse effects and the resistance to the militarization of the police by various actors in civil society and the emerging public sphere; and d) proposes a gradual demilitarization based on civil pressure.