The Criminal Subversion of Mexican Democracy

Issue Date January 2014
Volume 25
Issue 1
Page Numbers 5-18
file Print
arrow-down-thin Download from Project MUSE
external View Citation

Threats to the integrity of electoral democracy are manifold. The comparative literature has focused on “vertical” threats: the manipulation of elections by central governments. This article, by contrast, draws attention to “horizontal” threats: the societal subversion of democratic elections by criminal violence. It analyzes the so-called drug war in Mexico to illustrate the chilling effects private organized violence has on electoral democracy. After tracing the origins of Mexico’s new internal war, the article documents the damages it bears on the democratic integrity of elections as well as on surrounding rights and liberties.

About the Author

Andreas Schedler is professor of political science at CIDE in Mexico City. His most recent book is The Politics of Uncertainty: Sustaining and Subverting Electoral Authoritarianism (2013). At present, he is conducting public-opinion research on organized violence in Mexico.

View all work by Andreas Schedler