Between mutual suspicion and fear. Civil-military relations in Mexico

Abstract

This CMI Working Paper focuses on the relationship between the military, civilian governments and civilian populations in Mexico. It highlights key dynamics since the Mexican revolution (1910-1917) and up until the Ayotzinapa incident in 2014, revealing that the Mexican military throughout the 20 th Century has co-existed with civilian governments in a climate of mutual distrust yet co-dependence. The report also shows that the Mexican military has consistently been involved in repression of the civilian populations, from the clamp-down on “subversive groups” in the context of the Cold War to the civilian suffering produced by the so-called “War on Drugs” of today. These trajectories have in the present produced a crisis of legitimacy both for the security forces as well as for the Mexican state vis-a-vis its populace.