Critical Essay on Mexico's Illicit Drug Networks and the State Reactio

Introduction

In the contemporary society, there is no doubt that the networks of the Mexican drugs are not only large but also fierce, taking part in countless activities that includes money laundering, hijacking, blackmail, sedatives as well as mass murder. Nevertheless, irrespective of the impact of the above activities not only in Mexico but also across the globe, the truth remains that such networks of illicit stand to be remarkably resilient to the involvement of the States (Cheekes, 2019). This paper reviews the book: Jones, N. P. (2016). Mexico's Illicit Drug Networks and the State's Reaction.

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In view of the interviews together with all-encompassing fieldwork with Mexican and United States law execution, officials of the government, victim of the organized crimes and criminals, the author of this book Nathan P. Jones has scrutinized the relative resilience in regards to two main categories of drug networks. These include territorial and transactional which differs in terms of their business strategies thereby provoking far and wide riotously various State's responses. It is worth noting that transactional network concentrates on trafficking besides being more likely to get together with state via corruption. On the other hand, territorial networks seek to have the control of the territory hence in so doing have the intention of scheming taxation, extortion, hence their security sometimes triggers resilient state' backlash (Cheekes, 2019).

According to Cheekes (2019), Jones's timely as well as reliable Mexico's illicit drug networks and state reaction book gives an insight that is crucial regarding the reasons as to why Mexico targets a given network of the drug as opposed to others. The book also reassesses impacts concerning the drug war thereby proposing new solutions for the states that are weak in the fight against the drug networks. The truth of the matter is that Jones's study about drug trafficking network in Mexico gives rich history together with discerning analysis regarding the trafficking of drugs and the effort of counter-drug in the context of Mexico. There are numerous contemporary debates and questions concerning how the crime organized works together with how it can be combated. This goes well in bringing much of the looked-for practical exploration of the present challenges that confront Mexico and also much of Latin America. Jones's insight about the organized crime networks in Mexico especially Tijuana Cartel stands to be groundbreaking. It provides an in-depth understanding of State responses about the crime structures mainly as they link to 'territorial' and 'transactional' organizations.

Jones's book will endure to be one of the significant resources in future for everyone desiring to have the understanding the reasons as to why given criminals survive while at the same time others get to dissolve. In all aspects, the book can be regarded as being innovative considering its key theoretical contributions by way of contrasting territorial criminal networks and drug trafficking as epitome categories thereby exploring their designs of interacting with civil societies and States. It is equally imperative to note that theorizing of the middle range supported by the solid empirical work, provides a path that can be followed in bringing the challenges of the criminality in line with the mainstream work that concerns the quality of the region's democracy (Dell, 2015).

Jones's first Chapter provides analysis of the state-reaction argument conceptual framework that entails the association of the drug network and state relies on the strategy of business pursued by the drug network. In this chapter, it is undertaken that business strategy has the capacity of increasing as well as decreasing the risks of drug network which ought to turn result in stronger if the not weaker reaction of the state. Following this, it is argued that the response of the state thereof determines the resilience regarding the network of the drug in different ways in line with the state's institutions strength visa Vis network of the drug. Chapter 2 of the book offers an empirical study regarding AFO via the argument of the state-reaction. In this chapter, the precarious junctures concerning the history of the drug network are revealed. More to that included is the different structures of the drug network across the past. All in all, it is worth noting that the case is perfect considering it is among the pioneers of the cartels in Mexico that the states had targeted thereby being split in line with such trafficking -oriented as well as lines of territorial upon which one is said to have survived while the other not. To pass the message clearly, in the third chapter Jones provides a story from the state's viewpoint giving details about strategies and resources marshaled in combating AFO. It is imperative to note that the story takes into account various states as well as many government's layers that react towards the network of Illicit. The reality of the matter is that the U.S. is a consolidated democracy had its target mainly on early 1990s traffic-oriented AFO (Jones, 2016).

Because of the continued historical structural as well as continent reasons comprising of the democratization that was uneven, Mexico happened to be engaged in the fight. At this point, the author of the book explains how municipal police, civil societies, and federal troops together with the rival network all joined hands in wiping out drug network territorial under the leadership of Eduardo Teodoro also referred to as "El Teo." It is found that the network of "El Teo" ought to have been dissolved by the mid of 2010 even if it is found there are some reports about its affiliate Los Teos still operating in Tijuana. In the fourth chapter, Jones's provides analyzes of three mini cases in contradiction of the framework of state-reaction. The cases entail the aspect of making use of the 'structured focused comparison' and includes Los Caballeros Templarios, Los Zetas, and Sinaloa cartel. The reality of the matter is that by way of analyzing these case, the validity of the findings increases however also there is the addition of the details to conceptualization regarding the resilience of the dependent variable together with the organizational disruption used in the assessment of the proxy framework (Jones, 2016).

Jones's summary takes into perspectives the aspects of applying to understand as well as lessons gained from the case study of AFO together with the three mini cases. It is worth to note that the story of AFO entails microcosm about battles that happen across Mexico in the midst of drug networks that includes Los Zetas, networks of insurgent-territorial a case in point being the Los Caballeros Templarios together with their trafficking-oriented rivals, Sinaloa cartel. In all aspects, the argument of state-reaction gives critical lessons as well as predictions about which drug networks stand to survive thereby thriving besides being eviscerated. Towards the end of the book, Jones discusses the regime of the international drug prohibition thus analyzing its implications concerning the argument of state-reaction (Jones, 2016).

Figure 1: Survival curves 2001-2002 regarding lifetime use of the drug by gender per Mexican National comorbidity

According to Shirk (2014), from the period 1970s, the cross border trade in regards to drugs together with guns has resulted in immense profits as well as terrible destruction to Mexico and the United States. Some researchers have estimated Mexico's annual profits regarding its drug trade to be about 3 to 4 percent of the GDP of the country. It is also estimated that approximately half a million people earns a significant portion of what they earn via business of narcotics. However, like any other business, there are associated costs and risks involved. From 2006, when the president of Mexico Felipe Calderon declared war towards the drug cartels, over 35, 000 people are said to have lost their lives in Mexico about drug violence (Astorga & Shirk, 2010). The reality of the matter is that even the United States has not been immune to the drug trade effect. The criminal justice system of Mexico appears not strong enough to effectively deal with drug cartel leaders considering that it stands to be underfunded, confronted with corruption and more to that being mistrusted by the public.

Conclusion

In conclusion, In much as the efforts of America in supporting the military as well as shore up the system of justice is considered to be significant, the aspect of addressing economic as well as social conditions encouraging people to join the trade of the drug remains insufficient. To adequately address these challenges there is an excellent need for enhancing the cooperation between security authorities of Mexico, U.S. together with Central America.

References

Astorga, L., & Shirk, D. A. (2010). Drug trafficking organizations and counter-drug strategies in the US-Mexican context. https://escholarship.org/uc/item/8j647429

Cheekes, E. (2019). Jonathan D., Rosen and Roberto Zepeda, organised crime, drug trafficking, and violence (Felipe Calderon to Enrique Pena Nieto). https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/17440572.2019.1569521?journalCode=fglc20

Dell, M. (2015). Trafficking networks and the Mexican drug war. American Economic Review, 105(6), 1738-79. https://www.aeaweb.org/articles?id=10.1257/aer.20121637

Jones, N. P. (2016). Mexico's Illicit Drug Networks and the State Reaction. Georgetown UniversityPress.

Shirk, D. A. (2014). Drug War in Mexico: Confronting a Shared Threat. New York: Council on ForeignRelations.