Bullets and Votes: Violence and Electoral Participation in Mexico

Trelles, Alejandro; Carreras, Miguel

doi:10.1177/1866802x1200400204

Cited by 82 publications

(90 citation statements)

References 40 publications

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“…There is, after all, sufficient evidence showing that crime victimization negatively affects a victim's trust in government institutions (Ceobanu et al 2011;Corbacho et al 2012;Cruz 2008;Fernández and Kuenzi 2010;Pérez 2003) and that victims of crime find government messages less credible (Romero et al 2015). There is also evidence showing a decrease in political participation due to increases in crime in the case of Mexico (Ley 2013;Trelles and Carreras 2012). However, Bateson (2012) finds a strong positive effect of crime victimization on political participation using survey data from the five continents.…”

Section: Direct Victimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Presidential Approval and Public Security in Mexico's War on Crime

Romero¹,

Magaloni

Díaz-Cayeros

2016

Lat. Am. polit. soc.

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To fight criminal organizations effectively, governments require support from significant segments of society. Citizen support provides important leverage for executives, allowing them to continue their policies. Yet winning citizens' hearts and minds is not easy. Public security is a deeply complex issue. Responsibility is shared among different levels of government; information is highly mediated by mass media and individual acquaintances; and security has a strong effect on peoples' emotions, since it threatens to affect their most valuable assets-life and property. How do citizens translate their assessments of public security into presidential approval? To answer this question, this study develops explicit theoretical insights into the conditions under which different dimensions of public security affect presidential approval. The arguments are tested using Mexico as a case study.T his study analyzes the impact that citizens' assessments of security issues have on presidential approval. Specifically, it delves into the specific conditions that prompt citizens to punish or reward the chief executive. Little is known about the impact public security issues have on presidential approval. The bulk of the literature has focused on analyzing the impact of the economy and foreign affairs on an executive's job approval. 1 The relationship between crime and performance evaluations has usually been the domain of local politics. However, due to the significant increase in crime and violence in many countries around the globe, the responsibility for public security has partially shifted away from local governments toward the national sphere of government.

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Section: Direct Victimizationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Presidential Approval and Public Security in Mexico's War on Crime

Romero¹,

Magaloni

Díaz-Cayeros

2016

Lat. Am. polit. soc.

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“…Narcos are having a significant impact on politics in Mexico. While numerous studies have looked at the impacts that rising criminal violence will have on democratization (Bailey 2014;Trelles and Carreras 2012;Schedler 2014;Malone 2013;Bateson 2012;Velasco 2005), this paper has focused on a very specific kind of narco-violence: political assassinations. Narco-assassinations of elected officials arguably have the most direct impact on democratic governance.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Old Rules No Longer Apply: Explaining Narco-Assassinations of Mexican Politicians

Blume¹

2017

Journal of Politics in Latin America

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Between 2005 and 2015, organized criminal groups murdered 209 politicians in Mexico. This paper explains why. It argues that the two interwoven trends of political and criminal pluralization in Mexico fostered the conditions for a new type of criminal violence against politicians. Mexican politicians are now targeted for accepting illicit money as well as for standing up to criminals. Moreover, this violence is evidence of an alarming and persistent pattern in Mexico of politicians enlisting criminal organizations to eliminate their political competition. Using a zero-inflated negative binomial model, this paper shows there is a strong statistical relationship between the increase in assassinations and the increases in political pluralization and criminal fragmentation. The article concludes that the failure to protect local public officials creates greater opportunities for the emergence of subnational authoritarian enclaves and threatens democratic consolidation.

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“…Similarly, in the context of Mexico, quantitative studies find that higher levels of criminal violence at the local level result in lower voter turnout rates (Ley 2018;Trelles and Carreras 2012). Trelles and Carreras (2012) theorize that, in municipalities with high homicide rates, fear of crime discourages citizens from leaving their homes and attending the polls. Moreover, the authors posit that, in these contexts, citizens are less likely to trust political institutions and consequently have little confidence in electoral processes.…”

Section: Criminal Violence and Political Participationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Living in Gang-Controlled Neighborhoods: Impacts on Electoral and Nonelectoral Participation in El Salvador

Córdova

2022

Lat. American Res. Rev.

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Gangs’ territorial control affects the lives of residents in thousands of neighborhoods across Latin America, particularly in northern Central American countries. I argue that gang dominance constrains the ability of neighborhood residents to mobilize politically and consequently resist gang violence through institutionalized channels. Living in gang-controlled neighborhoods results in fewer incentives and opportunities to make political elites accountable for one’s personal safety. Even residents who have already experienced crime firsthand are discouraged from turning to politics as a strategy to change the status quo. My theoretical insights identify mechanisms through which gangs’ neighborhood control affects nonelectoral and electoral participation. To test my hypotheses, I rely on census and public opinion data collected in seventy-one neighborhoods in El Salvador. This article offers the first systematic statistical analysis of the effect of gangs’ territorial control on political participation in the Latin American context. The findings suggest that living under gang rule undermines residents’ right to engage freely in politics in nuanced ways.

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Bullets and Votes: Violence and Electoral Participation in Mexico

Cited by 82 publications

References 40 publications

Presidential Approval and Public Security in Mexico's War on Crime

Presidential Approval and Public Security in Mexico's War on Crime

The Old Rules No Longer Apply: Explaining Narco-Assassinations of Mexican Politicians

Living in Gang-Controlled Neighborhoods: Impacts on Electoral and Nonelectoral Participation in El Salvador

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