Is Mexico a Mafia State?

• In Event: Organized Crime, Violence and Politics

Abstract

Organised crime is one of the key challenges to Mexico’s democratic development. Surveys show that citizen’s main concern today – above the economy and job creation – is security. Distrust of the government is high and corruption is rife. This article seeks to explore the recent proposition that Mexico has become a “Mafia State”, one in which the interests of organised crime and the state become increasingly hard to separate. We use well-known theoretical notions of Mafia groups as well as recent literature on Mafia States to assess the validity of the above mentioned claim. To do so, we analyse the complex case of the disappearance of 43 students in the town of Iguala in September 2014. Qualitative empirical evidence of the relationships between organised crime and the state in Mexico are used to illustrate the conclusion that, while Mexico cannot yet be described as a fully- fledged Mafia State, there are many warning signs evident today which if ignored may well result in a Mafia State scenario in the near future. We finish by discussing ways in which this research agenda may move forward.

Authors

• Rolando Ochoa, Australian National University

• Rodrigo Elizarraras, Independent Researcher