US-Mexico Security Challenges Beyond 2012

On Thursday, October 25, 2012, the Trans-Border Institute hosted six doctoral candidates funded by the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, for a seminar titled “U.S.-Mexico Security Challenges Beyond 2012.” During the seminar, the candidates discussed connections between their dissertations, and received feedback from moderator Joel Wallman and other senior scholars David Shirk, Luis Astorga, Rafael Fernandez de Castro, Peter Reuter, and Octavio Rodriguez. The doctoral candidates have focused their research on various aspects of Mexico’s clash with the drug cartels. The seminar provided a unique opportunity for experts to gather and discuss the future of the “drug war” in Mexico, and how the shared issue impacts the United States.

The seminar involved discussion among the senior scholars and doctoral candidates from universities across the country and from a variety of intellectual backgrounds, including political science, history, government, and sociology. In her dissertation project, Angelica Duran-Martinez, a student of political science at Brown University, analyzes how interactions between the state and criminal groups influences drug violence. Stony Brook University history student Froylán Encisco historically evaluates the relationship between drug trafficking and practices of state indoctrination through looking at the case of Sinaloa. From Notre Dame University, political science student Javier Osorio examines the effect of democratic development on the onset, escalation, and diffusion of drug violence in Mexico. Viridiana Rios, a student of government at Harvard University, analyzes how recent Mexican policy decisions have affected drug violence. Studying political science at the University of Pittsburgh, Reynaldo Rojo-Mendoza investigates how individuals and the Mexican democratic system have been affected by Mexican drug violence. Lastly, Ana Villarreal, a sociology student from University of California-Berkeley, observes the effect of drug violence on everyday life by looking at the institutional reactions and urban expressions of stakeholders. During the seminar, discussants explored the many security challenges for the United States and Mexico, as they provided feedback and shared research and statistics. 

The fellows received feedback from the senior scholars who come from a variety of backgrounds. Moderator Joel Wallman represents the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, a group that supports scholarly research on problems of violence and aggression, such as the dissertation research of the six doctoral candidates who presented on October 25. Senior scholars include Luis Astorga from the Institute of Social Research and a professor at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Peter Reuter is a professor of public policy and criminology at the University of Maryland. Rafael Fernandez de Castro is a professor of international studies at the Mexico Autonomous Institute of Technology (ITAM). David Shirk is the Director of the Trans-Border Institute at the University of San Diego (USD), as well as author of several publications on U.S.-Mexican politics and professor of Political Science at USD. Octavio Rodriguez is the Justice in Mexico Project Coordinator at the Trans-Border Institute.