ISBN:
9781441980687
Language:
English
Pages:
Online-Ressource (XV, 243 p. 4 illus, digital)
Series Statement:
Studies of Organized Crime 10
Series Statement:
SpringerLink
Series Statement:
Bücher
Parallel Title:
Buchausg. u.d.T. Schatz, Sara, 1963 - Murder and Politics in Mexico
Keywords:
Social sciences
;
Criminology
;
Political science
;
Social Sciences
;
Social sciences
;
Criminology
;
Political science
;
Mexiko Politische Partei
;
Partido de la Revolución Democratica (México)
;
Politisch motivierte Gewaltanwendung
;
Mord
;
Politische Verfolgung
;
Straflosigkeit
;
Politisches System
;
Rechtsordnung
;
Kriminalität
;
Strafverfolgung
;
Unterdrückung/Repressalien
;
Korruption
;
Guerrero
;
Mexiko
;
Partido de la Revolución Democrática
;
Politischer Mord
;
Geschichte 1988-2010
Abstract:
Murder and Politics in Mexico studies the causes of political killings in Mexico s liberalization-democratization within the larger context of political repression. Mexico s democratization process has entailed a little known but highly significant cost of human lives in pre- and post-election violence. The majority of these crimes remain in a state of impunity: in other words, no person had been charged with the crime and/or no investigation of it had occurred. Over 70% of the political murders of Partido de la Revolución Democrática (PRD) members in the 1990s remain unsolved. This has several consequences for Mexican politics: when the level of violence is extreme and when political killings that are systematic and invasive are involved, this could indicate a real fracture in the democratic system. This book analyzes several dimensions regarding impunity and political crime, more specifically, the political killings of members of the PRD in the post-1988 period in Mexico. The main argument proposed in this book is that impunity for political killings is a structured system requiring one central precondition, namely the failure of the legal system to function as a system of restraint for killings. This structured system of impunity for political killing in general consists of political and institutional elements (law enforcement agencies, lawyers, public prosecutors, politicians). Dr Schatz s research finds that political assassinations are indeed rational, targeted actions but they do not occur within an institutional vacuum. Political assassinations are calculated strategies of action aimed at eliminating political rivals. They are caused by multiple interacting factors that involve the political, legal and criminal justice systems. As a form of interpersonal violence, political assassination involves direct or implied authorization from political leaders, the availability of assassins for hire and the willingness of some political leaders to utilize them against political opponents, and violent interactions between political parties combined with judicial system ineffectiveness. A corrupt legal system facilitates the use of political assassination and explains the persistence of impunity for political murder over time. To reduce political violence in the transition to electoral democracy, specific institutional conditions, namely a structured system of impunity for murder must be overcome.
Description / Table of Contents:
Murder and Politics in Mexico; Acknowledgments; Contents; List of Figures; List of Tables; Chapter 1: Introduction; Political Killings as a Specific Form of Political Repression; The Political Killing of PRD Members in Mexico; Chapter 2: Mexico's Liberalization-Democratization in Context; The Problem; Overview of the Mexican Political and Legal System; Origins; 1988-2010: A Brief Overview of the Emergence and Electoral Vicissitudes of the PRD; The 1977 Electoral Reforms; The Emergence of the FDN-PRD (1987-1988); After the 1988 Presidential Election
Description / Table of Contents:
Impunity: A Consistent Theme Across SexeniosImpunity, Crime, and Drug-Related Assassinations; Chapter 3: Theoretical Dimensions of a Structured System of Impunity for Political Killings; Democratization and Political Repression in Global Perspective; How Much Violence?; Regime Change Toward Regimes with Deficits in Accountability; The Mexican Case in Perspective; A Structured System of Impunity for Political Killings; Democratization and Political Repression; Democratization, Political Protest, and Political Repression; Accountable Legal Institutions and Democratization; Cause or Effect?
Description / Table of Contents:
Accountability and the Rule of LawImpunity; Impunity as a Structured System; Political Assassination as a Calculated Strategy Embedded in Interparty Relations; Political Party Strategies: PAN, PRD, PRI; Social Origins and Political Activism; Puebla; Social Origins; Political Activism and PRD Victims in Puebla; Political Assassination in Mexico: A Calculated Strategy; Chapter 4: Authorizing Political Killing in Mexico: The Importance of a Destructive Social Milieu; Introduction; The Mexican Dynamic of Political-Electoral Homicide; After 1988: A Difficult Time for the PRD; Methods
Description / Table of Contents:
Part I: The Activation of Historical Conditions for Destructive BehaviorThe Role of Leadership Authorization; Selective Political Assassinations; Engagement in Everyday Social Activities; Rationalization for Political Assassination; Authorization for Destruction Through Independent Social Mechanisms; Part II: Political Assassination: Victims and Perpetrators in Cross-sectional Analysis; Political Assassinations as Deliberate Targeting; Cover-up/Authorization for Assassination; Who Kills? Who Gains from These Murders?
Description / Table of Contents:
Killings by Known PRI Members and Hired Guns Generally Linked to a PRI Leader(s)PRI Members; Hired Guns; Killing Federal, State, and Local PRD Politicians; The Political Murder of Perredistas by "Unknowns"18; The Killings by Police; Are There Alternative Explanations for These Murders?; Accidents or Revenge Homicides?; Police Inefficiency?; Conclusion; End Notes; Chapter 5: Disarming the Legal System: Impunity for the Political Murder of Dissidents in Mexico; Introduction; Political Killings in the Mexican Context; The Problem of Political Assassination; Crime Without Punishment
Description / Table of Contents:
The CNDH Case Reports: A Detailed Analysis
Note:
Includes bibliographical references and index
DOI:
10.1007/978-1-4419-8068-7
URL:
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