Civil Military Dynamics in Democratic Mexico: The Effects of Calderon's War

• In Event: Crime and Violence, Civil-Military Relations, and Democracy in Mexico

Abstract

Calderon’s war against criminal groups, launched upon taking office in 2006, has affected civil military relations in democratic Mexico in non-obvious ways. This paper will argue that it has been gradually uprooting Mexico’s civil military relations. It is doing so in two ways. The first is that the war has exacerbated inter-service rivalry between SEDENA (Army and Air Force) and SEMAR (Navy and Marines). The latter has been ascendant thanks to restructuring that took place under Presidents Fox and Calderon as well its distinct organizational culture, which has proven more adaptable to change. Civil military relations are also changing with respect to military cooperation with the United States, which has advanced in ways previously unthinkable due to Mexican nationalism. Calderon’s war has accelerated both of these transformations. To produce tangible successes, his government needed vastly improved military capabilities and equipment, which required US assistance. As the war progressed, electoral politics have affected civil military relations, particularly with respect to the more nationalist SEDENA, which prefers to eschew US support. This paper shows that this has not been the case. The intensification of military cooperation with the US and inter-service rivalry amid Calderon’s war, which continues under the PRI’s President Enrique Peña, suggests that Mexico’s old civil military structure is adapting to intense democratic competition and inchoate checks and balances. The paper concludes with conjectures of future directions of democratic civilian control of the armed forces in light of the arguments and evidence.

Author

• Gabriel Aguilera, Air War College