Beyond Pax Mafiosa: Comparing Local Orders in Mexico

The book will be targeted primarily at researchers but it should be of interest to practitioners and policy makers. States (including Mexico) and national and international NGOs typically focus security policies and programs on localities with high homicide rates. The pax mafiosa concept helped raise awareness that low as well as high homicide rates can owe to organised crime. My comparative study will evidence differences in seemingly low homicide rates, and in the conclusion I draw out the implications.

The book compares periods of apparent peace in 4 localities of Mexico marked by organised crime activities. By apparent peace I mean that at least some actors claimed there was more peace or order or security than there had been previously. Through a range of methods, I grasped the contours of the apparent peace in each case, and considered to what extent it was consistent with human rights norms: how are rights respected and which ones; whose rights counted for more and whose for less; and whether it was the State that did the protecting. Through comparison across the 4 localities, I then identify variables that help to explain the dynamics of apparent peace: these range from the localities’ legal and illegal economies and of exposure in local, national and international media to electoral politics and the role of the Catholic Church. I argue, for example, that the tourism industry in one of the 4 localities shaped the apparent peace because not only were legal and illegal business actors invested in the semblance of order, but so were some senior state officials.