Abstract
Mexico has the most to profit from, but simply cannot connect well with, the Kirchner-Sperling proposals. Even by utilizing a wider range of policy preferences, given its two plagued borders, and having paid the highest price to quell cocaine traffickers, Mexico is being constantly undermined by too many forces it cannot control: some groups within society defy the state, others representing the state actually collude with the “enemies,” and yet others happen to be too transnational to be easily netted. All exemplify soft threats, ranging from illegal migrants to illicit weapons, with drugs and money to boot in between. All also point to the very multilateral proposals Kirchner and Sperling have forwarded but have been utterly neglected even as the stakes get higher and the playground wider. Alone Mexico might never be able to seriously dent its domestic beasts, while externally fomented threats require going beyond the state at a time of resurging nationalism: no country wants outside forces digging in its own backyard or fighting in its own drug-trafficking trenches.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Agren, David. 2009. “‘Mexico not a failed state’: U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton steps up support with D.F. visit.” News. March 26, 1.
—. 2009. “Trafficking is a shared problem; Clinton acknowledges U.S. role.” News. March 26, 3.
Agunias, Dovelyn. 2006. “Remittance trends in Central America.” Migration Information Sources. April. Available at: www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=393.
Allen, Edward. 2009. “Security and immigration post-Bush: The quest for the perfectly secure border.” Canada Watch, (Spring): 6.
Arana, Ana. 2005. “How the street gangs took Central America.” Foreign Affairs (May–June 2005).
Barry, Tom. 2009. “The failed border security initiative.” Part of the Texas-New Mexico Border Series, Americas Program Report. Washington, DC: Center for International Policy, April 22. Available at: http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6063.
Beith, Malcolm. 2008a. “In drug war this year, 5000 dead and counting.” News. December 4, 5.
—. 2008b. “‘Leave or die of hunger’: Migrants face every danger, now even organized crime.” News. December 18, 4.
—. 2008c. “On southern border, another war is waged: Killings in Guatemala, Zeta presence, instill fear in Chiapas.” News. December 14, 2008, 4.
—. 2009. “‘The new face of crime’: From Alabama to Argentina, Mexican cartels seeking control.” News. March 25, 4.
—. 2009. “Stemming gun flow may not be the silver bullet.” News. April 21, 5.
—. 2009. “Soldiers, police work together to reconstruct: In new relationship, they fight ‘culture of corruption.’” Part of the War on Drugs series, News. May 14, 4.
—. 2009. “U.S. cartel bust called ‘largest, hardest hitting’ operation yields hundreds of Sinaloa narcos, tons of drugs.” News. February 26, 1.
Billeaud, Jacques. 2009. “2009 immigrant deaths likely to exceed 2008 total.” October 2. Available at: www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5goebUSBZNXcZattF9F5FJvTUb.
Bogan, Jesse, Kerry A. Dolan, Christopher Helman, and Nathan Vardi. 2008. “The next disaster: Narco-violence is exploding—just as oil prices are plunging and Mexico is bracing for a deep U.S. recession.” Forbes, December 22, 73–80.
Brice, Arthur. 2009. “Mexican smugglers use Pacific as new route.” CNN, September 24. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/US/09/23/california.border.shooting/index.html.
Bricker, Kristin. 2009. “Over 10,000 dead: Is Mexican drug war violence ebbing?” Americas Program Report. Washington, DC: Center for International Policy, April 28. Available at: http://americas.irc-online.org/am/6088.
Buchanan, Ronald. 2009. “Death of a general.” News. February 8, 12.
Castillo, Manuel Ángel. 2006. “Mexico: Caught between the United States and Central America.” Migration Information Source: Fresh Thought, Authoritative Data, Global Reach (April). Available at: www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?id=389.
Centrode Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE) and Consejo Mexicano de Asuntos Internacionales (COMEXI). 2006. México and the World, 2006. México City: CIDE, COMEXI.
“Chinese illegal immigration discovered in Texas border town.” CNN. June 6, 2008. Available at: www.cnn.com/2008/US/06/06/texas.chinese.ap/index.htm.
“Clinton admits US blame on drugs,” BBC News. March 26, 2009. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7963292.stm.
Cohen, Jeffrey H. 2004. The Culture of Migration in Southern Mexico. Austin, TX: University of Texas Press.
Cornelius, Wayne. 1989. “Mexican migration to the United States: Introduction.” Mexican Migration to the United States: Origins, Consequences, and Policy Options. Edited by Cornelius and Jorge A. Bustamante, in Dimensions of U.S.-Mexico Relations, Vol. 3. La Jolla, CA: Center for US-Mexican Studies, University of California, San Diego.
—. 1983. “America in the ‘era of limits’: Migrants, nativists, and the future of U.S.-Mexican relations.” Mexican-U.S. Relations: Conflict and Convergences. Edited by Carlos Vásquez and Manuel Garcia y Griego. Los Angeles, CA: Chicano Studies Research Center and Latin American Center, University of California, Los Angeles.
Crary, David. 2009. “The war on drugs: Vast market for narcotics fuels Mexican cartels: U.S. is an enormous customer of illegal drugs.” News. May 28, 10.
de Icaza, Carlos. 2009. “Mexican envoy: U.S. economy a magnet: ambassador says worker program key to safe, secure immigration.” CNN. March 31. Interview. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2006/WORLD/americas/03/30/cnna.dei-caza/index.html.
Debusman, Bernd. 2009. “Pakistan and Mexico.” News. January 12, 12.
—. 2008. “Our porous border.” News. December 20, 12.
Díaz, Tom. 2009. No Boundaries: Transnational Latino Groups and American Law Enforcement. Ann Arbor, MI: University of Michigan Press.
Ellingwood, Ken. 2009. “‘Failed state’ rejected here: Even so, alarmist talk puts Calder ónon defensive vis-a-vis Obama.” News. January 27, 4.
—. 2009. “Drug violence spills south into Guatemala: Mexican gangs cleave out bloody trail across nation.” News. June 10, 12.
Emmond, Kenneth. 2009. “A failed state?” The Daily News. January 23, 12.
Emmott, Robin. 2009. “In ‘Chapo’ territory, Los Zetas wage war: Deep in the hills of Durango, most-wanted man comes under fire.” News. May 29, 5.
Fernandes, Deepa. 2007. Targeted: Homeland Security and the Business of Immigration. New York: Seven Stories Press.
Fitzgerald, David. 2006. “Inside the sending state: the politics of Mexican emigration control.” International Migration Review: 259–93.
Francis, David. 2008. “Mexican drug cartels move into human smuggling.” San Francisco Chronicle, March 31, A12.
Gray, John. 2004. Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus: The Classic Guide to Understanding the Opposite Sex. New York: Harper Paperbacks.
Gaddis, John L. “Toward the post-Cold War world,” The Future of American Foreign Policy. Edited by Eugene R. Wittkopf. New York: St. Martin’s Press, 16–36.
“Gangs in Texas seen as possible cartel recruits.” News. May 25, 2009. 5.
Gore, D’Angelo. 2009. “Counting Mexico’s guns: 90 percent of Mexico’s guns came from the United States — or is it 17 percent?” News. April 26.
Gray, Mike. 2009. “We tried a war like this before: Ending prohibition may not solve the drug problem, but it would save us from something far worse.” News. April 16, 16.
Grillo, Joan. 2009. “Mexico’s new drug law may set an example.” Time. August 26. Available at: www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1918725,00.html?cnn=yes.
Hagendorn, John M. 2008. A World of Gangs: Armed Young Men and Gangsta Culture. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minneapolis Press.
Hainsworth, Jeremy. 2009. “Rising gang violence has Vancouver living in fear: Residents unnerved as appetite for illicit drugs fuels city’s crime spree.” News. April 5.
Heath, Jonathan. 2006. Mexico and the Sexenio Curse: Presidential Successions and Economic Crises in Modern Mexico. Washington, DC: Center for Strategic and International Studies.
Hopf, Ted. 1998. “The promise of constructivism in international relations theory.” International Security, 23, no. 1 (Summer): 171–200.
“Human smuggling ring busted by ICE; Avenues gangsters linked.” LA Daily. October 14, 2009. Available at: http://blogs.laweekly.com/ladaily/crme/human-smuggling-ring-in-los-an-1/.
Jaramillo, Velia. 2001. “Mexico’s ‘Southern Plan’: The facts: Crackdown underway on migration from Central America.” Proceso, June 26. Available at: www.world-press.org/0901feature22.htm.
Keohane, Robert O. and Joseph S. Nye. 1977. Power and Interdependence: World Politics in Transition. Boston, MA: Little and Brown.
Kirchner, Emil. 2006. “The challenge of European Union security governance.” Journal of Common Market Studies, 44, no. 5: 947–68.
Kirchner and James Sperling. 2007. EU Security Governance. Manchester, UK: Manchester University Press.
Kovic, Christine. and Patty Kelly. 2005., “‘A just cause’: Central American migrants and Mexico’s southern border.” Houston Catholic Worker Newspaper, 35, no. 6 (September-October). Available at: www.cjd.org/paper/cause.html.
Krasner, Stephen D. 1995–96. “Compromising Westphalia.” International Security, 20, no. 3 (Winter): 115–51.
Lange, Jason. 2009. “Families resisting U.S. lure: migration may be peaking.” News. February 21, 4.
Laxer, James. 2004. The Border: Canada, the U.S. and Dispatches From the 49th Parallel. Toronto, ON: Anchor Canada.
Mahler, Sarah J. and Dusan Ugrina. 2006. “Central America: crossroads of the Americas.” Migration Information Source: Fresh Thought, Authoritarive Data, Global Reach (April). Available at: www.migrationinformaton.org/USFocus/dis-play.cfm?ID=386.
Marizco, Michael. 2009. “Tension at the border.” News. January 20, 13.
Martínez, Julieta and Alejandro Torres. “Seguridad fronteriza por pacto migratorio.” Available at: www2.eluniversal.com/pls/impreso/noticia_busqueda.html.
“Mexicans held after clash just across southern border.” News. December 2, 2008, 6.
“Mexico offers $2m for drug lords.” BBC News. March 23, 2009. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7960198.stm.
Migration Policy Institute. 2006. “The U.S.-Mexico border.” (June). Available at: www.migrationinformation.org/Feature/display.cfm?ID=407.
Moore, Solomon. 2009. “Cartels grow on U.S. soil: Marijuana production takes hold.” Part of the War on Drugs series. News. February 16, 4.
Morgenthau, Hans J. 1948. Politics Among Nations: The Struggle for Power and Peace. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
“Narco-tunnels found: Police locate three passages in hot spot of Nogales.” News. January 21, 2009, 3.
Ogren, Cassandra. 2007. “Migration and human rights on the Mexico-Guatemala border.” International Migration, 45, no. 4: 203–34.
Padgett, Tim. 2009. “Mexico’s drug war: A cops and chopper story.” Time. August 19. Available at: www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1917453,00.html.
Passel, Jeffrey S. and D’Vera Cohn. 2009. “Mexican immigrants: How many come? How many leave?” Pew Hispanic Center Report. Washington, DC: Pew Research Center, July 22.
Payan, Tony. 2006. The Three U.S.-Mexican Border Wars: Drugs, Immigration, and Homeland Security. Praeger Security International Series. Westport, CT: Praeger International.
Penhaul, Karl. 2009. “Power vacuum fuels vicious drug war.” CNN, October 13. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/13/colombia.drug.war/index.html.
—. 2009. “Luxuries dazzle gangsters’ girls.” CNN. October 15. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/10/15/colombia.girlfriends/inde.html.
Rafael, Tony. 2007. The Mexican Mafia. New York: Encounter Books.
“Rice: Don’t blame U.S. gun laws.” News. December 20, 2008, 1.
Richwine, Jason. 2009. “The congealing pot: Today’s immigrants are different from waves past.” National Review, August 24. Available at: www.aei.org/article/100860.
Rodgers, Dennis. 2006. “Living in the shadow of death: Gangs, violence and social order in urban Nicaragua, 1996–2002.” Journal of Latin American Studies, 38: 267–92.
Rosenberg, Mica. 2009. “Cartels going after trucks, trains … beans: Daring and sophisticated crime groups seeking new methods of gaining currency.” News. June 2, 5.
Rotella, Sebastian. 2009. “Sharp rise in Chinese arrests at U.S. border.” Los Angeles Times. October 5. Available at: www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-chinese-smuggling5–2009oct05,0.
Rubin, Barry M. Paved with Good Intentions: The American Experience In Iran (New York: Penguin, 1981).
Rudolph, Christopher. 2005. “International migration and homeland security: Coordination and collaboration in North America.” Laws and Business Review of the Americas, vol. 11, nos. 3–4: 433–59.
Serrano, Richard A. and Sam Quinonez. 2008. “Export nightmare: Few U.S. regions are immune to Mexico’s powerful drug-trafficking cartels.” News. November 28, 4.
Stevenson, Mark. 2009. “Drug war complicated by high-level corruption: Critics see government favoring Sinaloa cartel over Gulf counterparts.” News. January 26, 6.
Tareen, Sophie and Julie Watson. 2009. “Tough times in U.S. seep to Mexico too: As remittances shrink, families back home struggle.” News. January 27, 16.
United States Joint Forces Command. Center for Joint Futures. 2008. Joint Operating Environment, 2008. Suffolk, VA: US JFC, November 2008.
“US graft adds to Mexico’s woes.” BBC News. March 30, 2009. Available at: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7971335.stm.
Vigil, James Diego. 2008. “Mexican migrants in gangs: A second-generation history.” Street Gangs, Migration and Ethnicity. Edited by Frank van Gemert, Dana Peterson, and Inger-Lise Lien. Devon, UK: William Publishing, 49–60.
Waltz, Kenneth N. 1979. Theory of International Politics. Menlo Park, CA: Addison Wesley.
Ware, Michael. 2009. “Los Zetas called Mexico’s most dangerous drug cartel.” CNN. August 6. Available at: http://edition.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/americas/08/06/mexico.drug.cartels/index.html.
Wiarda, Howard J. 1999. “United States policy toward Latin America: A new era of benign neglect?” Neighborly Adversaries: Readings in U.S.-Latin American Relations. Edited by Michael LaRosa and Frank O. Mora. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield, Ch. 22.
Wilkinson, Tracy. 2009. “The war on drugs: Sinaloa abuzz over rumors of cease-fire: Death-count drops, sparking talks of peace.” News. February 2, 4.
Wiltfang, Gregory L. and John K. Cochran. 1994. “The Sanctuary Movement and the smuggling of undocumented Central Americans into the United States: Crime, deviance, or defiance?” Sociological Spectrum, 14: 101–28.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 2013 Imtiaz Hussain and Jorge A. Schiavon
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Hussain, I. (2013). Mexico’s Twin-Border Beast: Saturated State?. In: Hussain, I., Schiavon, J.A. (eds) North America’s Soft Security Threats and Multilateral Governance. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137349897_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1057/9781137349897_5
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, New York
Print ISBN: 978-1-349-46816-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-137-34989-7
eBook Packages: Palgrave Political & Intern. Studies CollectionPolitical Science and International Studies (R0)