The Rule of Law in Mexico: Questions from Historical and Theoretical Perspectives

• In Event: ¿Radical Politics and/or Rule of Law in Mexico?

Abstract

Understood at the most basic level, the rule of law is a check against the arbitrary exercise of power by all subjects, including those in power. Nevertheless, recent events in Mexico provide ample grounds for extreme pessimism about the value of holding the state accountable to the rule of law. From Acteal to Atenco, Oaxaca to Wirikuta, from the drug war to the neoliberal transfer of wealth up the social ladder—a reality that becomes more firmly enshrined in law with each passing day—the desires and interests of the strong prevail. Of central concern is the figure of the sovereign exception, which when arrogated, puts the rule of law into crisis. This paper will address the stark questions that the current crisis raises. Is this a crisis from which the rule of law can recover? Can a legitimate rule of law be restored? Or, following from Walter Benjamin, is it rather the case that the exception to the rule is the rule (“Theses” 257), while the crisis is merely a masquerade? Has the legal basis of state power, the rule of law, been so irremediably associated with violence that it can only be perceived as illegitimate from the standpoint of democratic politics?

Authors

• Estelle C Tarica, University of California/Berkeley

• Ivonne Del Valle, University of California/Berkeley