Shreyadhital

Shreya Dhital (श्रेया धिताल ) is a junior studying Political Science in Columbia University. She was born and raised in Kathmandu, Nepal. Her interests include politics, visual arts, music and photography; here are some of her works .

During her time at Columbia, Shreya has been involved with the campus chapters of Red Cross, the Columbia Spectator and served on the boards of Habitat for Humanity , the International Students' Advisory Board and the Political Science Students Association.

---

If you are starting a new article, write a 3–4 paragraph summary version of your article—with citations—in your Wikipedia sandbox. If you are improving an existing article, create a detailed outline reflecting your proposed changes, and post this for community feedback, along with a brief description of your plans, on the article’s talk page. Make sure to check back on the talk page often and engage with any responses. Mexican Drug War: Proposed outline, and restricting:

Article: Mexican Drug War

I. Background

a) After President Calderón was voted into office in 2006, the National Action Party (PAN) pursued an intensive anti-drug policy, backed by the US backed. During this period, the country saw a huge spike in violence. Calderón attempted to replace and support the weak/corrupt police, and did manage to take down some big cartel-figures. However, the ensuing violence claimed over 60,000 lives (Dell).

***AIM: I attempt to restructure the page in terms of the political motives, actions and structures of the 3 pain actors: The cartels, the Mexican government, and the US. I will use political theory about violence and illegality, state-supported protection brackets and violence (corruption), and drug policy in the US. Then I discuss proposed solutions.***

II. Main actors/ powers:

A. Major Cartels;

a) Overview of Major cartels of Mexico and drug production facts, as well as discussion of involvement in other illicit markets like human trafficking, money laundering etc.

b) Overview of consumers: US and World demand

c) Discussion of violence used in trade, and within states: The drug cartels are comprised of an intricate network of and paramilitaries to protect monopolies and ensure successful transaction to the US. (Snyder: does illegality breed violence)

B. Mexican political structures and counter- reactions:

a) Preceding PAN, the Mexican party PRI (Institutional Revolutionary Party (with a long-standing friendship with the US) maintained control of and collusion with the drug trade enjoying profits from cartel relations, from 1929 to 2000. (What Mexico's Election Means for the Drug War." Foreign Affairs)

b) Calderón after taking office in 2006, directed efforts to curbing drug trade with force/ PAN’s anti-drug policies/ actions have since been described as ineffective due to embedded structural problems/ strategy and because of the resulting violence. - Political scientists cite PAN’s policies as inducing violence (Dell, Melissa)

- Larger structural problems, corruption and drug-protection rackets, at different levels of the state, (Snyder)) ant how these impacted waves of violence

- Exogenous factors like supply shocks caused by changes with external actors (Colombian drug cartels/ policy) have also been cited as causing the spike in violence (Castillo, Juan Camilo, Daniel Mejía, and Pascual Restrepo)

C. The United States

a) US as the largest consumer of cocaine, heroin, marijuana, and methamphetamines from Mexico, but with stringent drug prohibition laws, and open gun-control: Trickle down effects of US anti-drug law ( WOLAP); discussed with (does illegality breed violence?) ( Drug war crimes. Miron, Jeffrey A.)

b) US contribution’s inability to curb high demand and high supply of arms across the border (WOLAP),

c) Political literature citing “The Mexican Drug War, and drug problem in general as a result of America’s imperial efforts (Alfredo Carlos), dealing with US policy formed based on questionable figures of the drug trade possibly fabricated/manipulated\/ inflated by the UNDP and other sources. (Reuter, Peter, and Victoria Greenfield. "Measuring global drug markets.)

III. Proposed solutions:

a) Similar laws different level of enforcement, legalization of marijuana only ( Miron, Jeffrey

b.) Lifting US prohibition: debate between Prohibitionists, decriminalizes, Legalizers, by (MacCoun, Robert J., Reuter, Peter)

Barriers: Unwillingness to consider benefits of prohibition to curtail drug related harm.

c) WOLAP: tighter gun policy, controlling drug use in US via “evidence-based prevention strategies”.

Mexican solutions: Strengthening Mexican justice structures to reduce and bring illicit actors to justice.

Questions: Is this too specific of a page to work with?

If I were to switch, would these theories work better in this page: Narco-capitalism, where I would include literature about Colombia and Afghanistan and Japan?

Works I have read:

Reuter, Peter, and Victoria Greenfield. "Measuring global drug markets." World economics 2.4 (2001): 159-173. Andreas, Peter.

"The politics of measuring illicit flows and policy effectiveness." In Sex, drugs, and body counts: The politics of numbers in global crime and conflict. Cornell University Press (2010): 23-45

Friman, H. Richard. "Drug markets and the selective use of violence." Crime, law and social change 52.3 (2009): 285-295. Castillo, Juan Camilo, Daniel Mejía, and Pascual Restrepo. "Illegal drug markets and violence in Mexico: The causes beyond Calderón." Unpublished manuscript, Stanford University Trejo, Guillermo, and Sandra Ley. "Votes, Drugs, and Violence. Subnational Democratization and the Onset of Inter-‐Cartel Wars in Mexico, 1995-‐2006."Unpublished Paper, Notre Dame University (2013). Snyder, Richard, and Angelica Duran-Martinez. "Does illegality breed violence? Drug trafficking and state-sponsored protection rackets." Crime, law and social change 52.3 (2009): 253-273. Dell, Melissa. 2015. "Trafficking Networks and the Mexican Drug War." American Economic Review, 105(6): 1738-79. MacCoun, Robert J., and Reuter, Peter. Drug War Heresies. Port Chester, GB: Cambridge University Press, 2001. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 6 March 2016. Miron, Jeffrey A.. Drug War Crimes : The Consequences of Prohibition. Oakland, CA, USA: Independent Institute, 2004. ProQuest ebrary. Web. 6 March 2016. Freeman, Laurie. State of Siege: Drug-Related Violence and Corruption in Mexico (n.d.): n. pag. WOLA. Carpenter, Ted Galen. Mexico Is Becoming the next Colombia. Washington, D.C.: Cato Institute, 2005. Web. Dell, Melissa. 2015. "Trafficking Networks and the Mexican Drug War." American Economic Review, 105(6): 1738-79. The drug cartels and narco-violence: the threat to the United States. http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=pst.000032189315;view=2up;seq=1 Carlos, Alfredo. “ Mexico “Under Siege Drug Cartels or U.S. Imperialism?” LATIN AMERICAN PERSPECTIVES, Issue 195, Vol. 41 No. 2, March 2014 43-59 Busch, Michael. "Drug War Mexico: A Conversation With Peter Watt (Part One)." The Huffington Post. TheHuffingtonPost.com, n.d. Web. 07 Mar. 2016. "Can Mexico's New President End the Drug Wars?" Can Mexico's New President End the Drug Wars? N.p., 02 July 2012. Web. 07 Mar. 2016. "Mexico; Election; PRI." Tribunedigital-chicagotribune. N.p., 01 July 2012. Web. 07 Mar. 201 "What Mexico's Election Means for the Drug War." Foreign Affairs. N.p., 28 June 2012. Web. 07 Mar. 2016.

Works I hope to include:

Narco-propaganda in the Mexican "drug war" : An anthropological perspective. / Campbell, Howard. In: Latin American Perspectives, Vol. 41, No. 2, 01.03.2014, p. 60-77. Marez, Curtis. "Drug Wars: The Political Economy of Narcotics." Barnes & Noble. Minneapolis : University of Minnesota Press, C2004., n.d. Grayson, George W. “Mexico : narco-violence and a failed state?” New Brunswick, N.J. : Transaction Publishers, c2010. “The drug cartels and narco-violence : the threat to the United States : hearing before the Subcommittee on Western Hemisphere, Peace Corps, Narcotics, and Terrorism of the Committee on Foreign Relations”, United States Senate, One Hundred Fifth Congress, first session, July 16, 1997. Washington : U.S. G.P.O. : For sale by the U.S. G.P.O., Supt. of Docs., Congressional Sales Office, 1997. Mexico's drug wars [videorecording] / produced & directed by Elena Cosentino ; [a BBC production]. Transnational crime and public security : challenges to Mexico and the United States / edited by John Bailey and Jorge Chabat.