This article uses an interpretive phenomenological approach to examine the deployment (and perception) of fear in the US-Mexico border region. This region is currently perceived by "others" to be under siege by drugtrafficking organizations, terrorists and undocumented immigrants. However, the inhabitants of this region experience a vastly different reality that is far-removed from the rhetoric of fear often used by politicians to identify and define the inhabitants. In many instances, the effects of border violence are exaggerated in ways that benefit political and corporate interests; moreover, this specific tactic operates to squeeze and constrain efforts aimed at civic engagement and public input in policies. We expose perceptions and misperceptions on issues related to fear, and explain the ways in which fear can be expropriated as a social construct that prevents meaningful political dialogue.

This article analyzes the effects of Mexico's drug war on security, migration, and the economy on the eastern U.S.-Mexico border between the state of Texas and the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. Both sides of the border are analyzed and compared simultaneously. The article shows that the extreme violence that Mexico is suffering has benefited U.S. border towns while having a negative impact on Tamaulipas. The positive effects of Mexico's violent spiral on U.S. border security and the U.S. border economy are evident, notwithstanding American public discourse and the reporting of U.S. media alleging the opposite.

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This article examines the phenomenon of drug-related violence in Mexico and the causal factors that enabled the upsurge in the numbers of drug-related homicides during the period 2007–10 — the first 4 years of the so-called “war on drugs”. The authors explore regional statistics derived from official sources, as well as from both anecdotal and empirical research on the subject, and assess quantitatively the impact of different factors such as deteriorated economic conditions, corruption, a new configuration of organized crime, divisions between criminal organizations and the Mexican government's strategy to fight organized crime. The study finds that the key forces that explain a massive increase in violence in the most recent years are the involvement of the federal forces in the fight against drug trafficking organizations (the State), the splits between criminal syndicates and what is defined here as the “paramilitarization” of organized crime in Mexico. Finally, the present analysis makes use of Max Weber's (1919) “monopoly of violence” framework, and explains how the Mexican State has been losing this monopoly in recent years.

This article presents an analysis of Mexico's two borders -the MexicoUS border and the southern border (MexicoCentral America)with regards to drug trafficking, violence related to organized crime, un documented migration, and migrant smuggling. It also provides a brief ac count and assessment of the policies that have been recently implemented with the aim of solving these problems. This comparative analysis is used as a starting point to elaborate recommendations of policies that the United States, Mexico, and Central American governments should implement in order to strengthen human security as well as regional cooperation in these areas. This article concludes by asserting that the main problems regarding border security in these two regions of the hemisphere would only be solved through the close cooperation between the nations involved and the design of effective human development policies.