In 2006, the Mexican government launched an aggressive campaign to weaken drug-trafficking organizations (DTOs). The security policies differed significantly from those of previous administrations in the use of a leadership strategy (the targeting for arrest of the highest levels or core leadership of criminal networks). While these strategies can play an important role in disrupting the targeted criminal organization, they can also have unintended consequences, increasing inter-cartel and intra-cartel fighting and fragmenting criminal organizations. What impact do captures of senior drug cartel members have on the dynamics of drug-related violence? Does it matter if governments target drug kingpins versus lower-ranked lieutenants? We analyze whether the captures or killings of kingpins and lieutenants have increased drug-related violence and whether the violence spills over spatially. To estimate effects that are credibly causal, we use different empirical strategies that combine difference-in-differences and synthetic control group methods. We find evidence that captures or killings of drug cartel leaders have exacerbating effects not only on DTO-related violence but also on homicides that affect the general population. Captures or killings of lieutenants, for their part, only seem to exacerbate violence in “strategic places” or municipalities located in the transportation network. While most of the effects on DTO-related violence are found in the first six months after a leader’s removal, effects on homicides affecting the rest of the population are more enduring, suggesting different mechanisms through which leadership neutralizations breed violence.
Why do drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) sometimes prey on the communities in which they operate but sometimes provide assistance to these communities? What explains their strategies of extortion and co-optation toward civil society? Using new survey data from Mexico, including list experiments to elicit responses about potentially illegal behavior, this article measures the prevalence of extortion and assistance among DTOs. In support of our theory, these data show that territorial contestation among rival organizations produces more extortion and, in contrast, DTOs provide more assistance when they have monopoly control over a turf. The article uncovers other factors that also shape DTOs’ strategies toward the population, including the degree of collaboration with the state, leadership stability and DTO organization, and the value and logistics of the local criminal enterprise.
Resumen. En este trabajo me propongo realizar una lectura en paralelo de las críticas al concepto de sujeto llevadas a cabo por Theodor Adorno y Louis Althusser, ambos autores pertenecientes a dos tradiciones teóricas muy distintas. Esto con el fin de mostrar que: 1) que ambos parten del desmoronamiento del marxismo hegeliano y su idea de un sujeto de la historia, 2) que ambos intentan develar la naturaleza ideológica de la categoría de sujeto y 3) que para tal fin utilizan herramientas psicoanalíticas. Este recorrido me permitirá resaltar los puntos de encuentro y las enormes divergencias entre ambos autores. Palabras clave: Adorno; Althusser; sujeto; ideología.[en] On the Ideological Constitution of the Subject. Theodor Adorno and Louis AlthusserAbstract. The aim of this paper is to carry on a parallel reading of the criticisms of the concept of subject carried out by Theodor Adorno and by Louis Althusser, from two very different theoretical traditions. This in order to show that: 1) their criticisms are based on the collapse of Hegelian Marxism and its idea of a subject of history, 2) that both try to unveil the ideological nature of the category of subject, and 3) that for that purpose they debate with the psychoanalytic tradition. This will allow me to shed light on the meeting points and the enormous divergences between both authors. Keywords: Adorno; Althusser; subject; ideology.Sumario: 1. Introducción; 2. La crisis del marxismo hegeliano; 3. Sobre la constitución ideológica del sujeto; 4. Sujeto e inconsciente; 5. Consideraciones finales; 6. Referencias bibliográficas.
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