Governance in Brown Areas & Hot Spots: Civil Society & State-Building in Mexico

• In Event: Security and Citizenship in Latin America

Abstract

Can an active civil society strengthen security and the rule of law in contexts where the state is weak or absent? As liberal constitutionalism and the democratic reforms of the late 1990s have failed to deliver full citizenship rights, many Latin Americans find themselves living in areas of low state presence and functionality. At the same time, in many places illegal armed actors have grown stronger and wealthier. They have filled voids left by the state, or successfully challenged whatever state authority exists, often establishing cooperative relationships to ensure their own safety, impunity, and freedom to conduct business. Most often, local governance battles, and the violence that often accompanies them, have been understood as struggles for power between the state and illicit actors.

This paper centrally situates a third actor, organized civil society – specifically colectivos of victims of forced disappearances - and asks what role they can play in regions of disputed governance. I explore the ways in which civil society responds to institutional vacuums which have enshrined impunity. Focusing on colectivos in two Mexican states – Guerrero and Tamaulipas – I examine the relationship between sympathetic state investigators and prosecutors and colectivos. I reflect on how these relationships formed, what results they have yielded in terms of impunity and security, and zoom out to theorize the potential and impact of colectivos at the national level. Finally, I explore the relationships between colectivos and broader civil society, exploring whether there are synergies around issues of security reform and drug decriminalization.

Author

• Janice Kreinick Gallagher, Rutgers-Newark