Insurgent Vigilantism and Drug War in Mexico

• In Event: Crimen, inseguridad y política en México (parte II)

Abstract

The proliferation of armed, anti-crime self-defense groups (autodefensas) in Mexico since 2013 has sparked renewed scholarly interest in vigilantism and the politics of collective violence more generally. While most of this recent scholarship attempts to explain where and why such groups emerge in the first place, very little attention has been paid to the micro-foundations of vigilante organization and behavior. Drawing on the social movements, civil war, and organized crime literatures, this paper advances the discussion by examining the political strategies and collection action regimes of vigilante groups in contemporary Mexico. What are their strategies, and what shapes their decision-making? How do they succeed (or not) in creating long-term collective action regimes? Interesting in their own right, these questions also respond to more general concerns about political stability in the context of fragmented sovereignty. In light of this, I argue that vigilante groups in Mexico employ the tactics of popular insurgency as both a negotiating tool to influence government behavior or policy and as a mechanism to create symbolic capital and thereby facilitate collection action. The paper’s empirical core draws on ethnographic research conducted in Michoacán, Mexico, between June and July 2018.

Author

• Michael J Wolff, Western Washington University