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1. Mexico: Vigilante Justice

Author:
Judith Matloff and Katie Orlinsky
Publication Date:
03-2014
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
TIERRA COLORADA, Mexico—The main road on the mountain ridge had vanished in a landslide, and what was once the tarmac hung off the cliff like a ribbon. Construction workers hired by the government excavated boulders so vehicles could pass. But anyone trying to plough through faced another obstacle—farmers with shotguns manning a roadblock on a curve. A driver exited his car to talk with the men in beige uniforms, who asked for his name and mission. Assured no mischief was intended, the citizen policeman at the barricade waved him on. "If you get stuck in the mud, alert us," advised the man who appeared to be in charge, a corn farmer who volunteers for regular shifts to maintain order. "We control the path."
Political Geography:
Mexico

2. Beyond Borders

Author:
David A. Andelman
Publication Date:
03-2013
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
Civilization marks its beginnings to the moment, more than 14,000 years ago, humans first gathered into settlements, leaving behind their days as nomadic hunters and gatherers. Known as sedentarization, this phenomenon likely debuted in the Fertile Crescent of the Levant, followed by the Yangtze and Yellow River basins two millennia later, and eventually in Mexico, South America, and finally the eastern shores of the United States. At each point sprang up villages, cities, and eventually, nations. Over thousands of years, fixed boundaries were codified and defended, often at great cost. Many borders have been drawn wisely, following natural formations like barriers of mountains or rivers. Many follow linguistic, ethnic, religious, or tribal boundaries. But others have been haphazardly imposed by outsiders with the stroke of a pen on some distant map. As empires fell and the speed of global trade and migration increased, boundaries became complex barriers to the free movement of people and ideas. Today, some provoke violent wars and revolutions, while others can be breached by brave individuals and new technologies—issues that World Policy Journal explores in our spring cover theme.
Topic:
Demographics, Development, Nationalism, International Affairs, Border Control, and Urbanization
Political Geography:
United States, South America, and Mexico

3. Editor's Note

Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
As a fragile democracy grows in Iraq, as U.S. forces in Afghanistan try to reform governance in Kabul, and as Mexico threatens to devolve into a narco-state, we hear a strident, intensifying refrain: crime and corruption must be stamped out. But if the chorus is in harmony on the pernicious effects of these plagues— poverty, war, lack of development, poor governance—it has offered little in the way of remedy. Moreover, given how interwoven and insidious these problems often are, just which should be tackled first?
Topic:
Crime
Political Geography:
Afghanistan, United States, Iraq, and Mexico

4. Inside Mexico's Drug War

Author:
Tomas Kellner and Francesco Pipitone
Publication Date:
05-2010
Content Type:
Journal Article
Journal:
World Policy Journal
Institution:
World Policy Institute
Abstract:
AGUASCALIENTES, Mexico—Just before noon on February 15, 2007, four municipal police officers in Aguascalientes, the picturesque capital of the central Mexican state bearing the same name, were called to a mundane road accident. An overturned, black Chevy Suburban with out-of-state license plates was blocking traffic on the quiet Boulevard John Paul II that runs through the city's sleepy western suburbs.
Topic:
War
Political Geography:
Mexico