When:
Monday, April 12, 2021 12:45 PM
-
2:00 PM
Moynihan Institute of Global Affairs
Program of Latin American and the Caribbean presents
Votes, Drugs, and Violence: The Political Logic of Criminal Wars in Mexico
Why did Mexican drug cartels go to war as the country transitioned
away from one-party rule? And why have criminal wars proliferated as democracy
has consolidated and elections have become more competitive subnationally? In
Votes, Drugs, and Violence, Guillermo Trejo and Sandra Ley develop a political
theory of criminal violence in weak democracies that elucidates how democratic
politics and the fragmentation of power fundamentally shape cartels' incentives
for war and peace. Drawing on in-depth case studies and statistical analysis
spanning more than two decades and multiple levels of government, Trejo and Ley
show that electoral competition and partisan conflict were key drivers of the
outbreak of Mexico's crime wars, the intensification of violence, and the
expansion of war and violence to the spheres of local politics and civil
society.
Sandra Ley
Assistant Professor
Political Studies Division
Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas (CIDE), Mexico City
Sandra Ley is Assistant Professor at the Political Studies
Division at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE), where she
also coordinates the Program for the Study of Violence. Prior to her arrival at
CIDE, she was a visiting fellow at the Kellogg Institute for International
Studies at the University of Notre Dame. Sandra studies criminal violence and
political behavior. Her research focuses on the political consequences of
criminal activity. Her most recent work examines how violence affects the
activation of civil society, political participation and accountability.
Together with Guillermo Trejo, Associate Professor at the University of Notre
Dame, she is the coauthor of the book Votes, Drugs, and Violence. The
Political Logic of Criminal Wars in Mexico (Cambridge University
Press, 2020). Her work has been published in British Journal of
Political Science, Comparative Political Studies, Journal of Conflict
Resolution, Politics & Society, Latin
American Politics and Society, Latin American Research Review, among other
international academic journals. Sandra received her Ph.D. in Political Science
from Duke University in 2014.
Hosted By:
Gladys McCormick, Jay and
Debe Moskowitz Chair in Mexico-US Relations
Click here to register
For more information or to request accommodation arrangements, please contact Havva Karakas Keles, hkarakas@syr.edu.