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The drug wars in Mexico have left many calling for more controls and tighter borders. Shannon O’Neil argues that the escalating violence should be understood as one result of the struggle for a two party democracy. Under the PRI, officials and civilians were often protected from cartel violence as long as they did not prosecute gang members. This understanding is now over. In observing the new reality, O’Neil argues that U.S. and Mexican interests will be best met if the United States goes beyond border control and pursues a more ambitious goal: supporting Mexico’s democracy.
Shannon O’Neil is the Douglas Dillon fellow for Latin America studies at the Council on Foreign Relations. She recently directed its Independent Task Force on U.S.- Latin America Relations: A New Direction for a New Reality. She is currently working on a book on Mexico, analyzing the country’s political, economic, and social transformations over the last two decades. In addition, O’Neil publishes LatIntelligence—www.latintelligence.com—a blog analyzing Latin American politics, economics, and public policies.
Before joining the Council, she was a justice, welfare, and economics fellow and an executive committee member and graduate associate at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs at Harvard University. She was also a Fulbright Scholar in Mexico and Argentina, holds a doctorate in government from Harvard University, and a master’s from Yale University.
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