"The crisis of civil-military relations in Mexico during the war against drugs: comparative reflections on accountability and legal reform in the modern democratic era"

Abstract

This research is focused on the current crisis that is taking place between Mexico’s civil society and the armed forces in the context of the “war against drugs”. In 2006 the federal government initiated a security strategy focused on the militarization of the enforcement against organised criminal groups that specialise in drug-trafficking. At the same time the number of civilian complaints for human rights abuses attributed to military personnel increased exponentially. Ten years later, the same policies are in force and the soldiers keep being accused of severe human rights violations. The aim of this project is to develop a theoretical framework that will provide the elements needed to reform the current Mexican legal frameworks and military institutions, in order to improve the relationship between the armed forces and civil society. To develop new theory, this research addresses the social background of the conflict and analyses contemporary concepts and frameworks that shape the topic of civil-military relations both at a domestic and international level. Subsequently, the cases of the German post-WWII military institutional reforms and the emergency legal regime in Northern Ireland during the 1960s and 70s are studied and analysed. This provides the elements to do a legal comparison with the current Mexican legal codes and institutions. The result produces the theory needed to develop reforms that have the potential to shape a new civil-military relations paradigm in Mexico.