"Narco-Trafficking"

Recently, I learned about narco-trafficking in Mexico from Political Science class. Extensive research has been conducted exploring the relationship between narco-trafficking organizations and political institutions. Many researchers focus on Mexican drug cartels, which have become increasingly influential in the past thirty years. This paper unpacks and synthesizes research from eight peer-reviewed articles. It identifies and analyzes the methods used by these cartels to influence institutions in Mexico and the United States. Three main types of influence are discussed, including violence, bribes and family connections. First, a correlation between increased violence and augmented cartel power was established. This showed that violence is being used to influence a variety of institutions including politicians, the police force and the government as a whole. Then, the use of bribes and family connections was analyzed. Cartels use these technique to curry favor with the aforementioned institutions. Overall, the researches show that political changes in Mexico have led to an increased reliance on violence by Cartels, and a decreased importance of traditional patronage systems. Even though, U.S.A government and Mexico government kept saying they will determine these problems, it won’t be that easy. In the past ten years, violence in Mexico has risen exponentially. Both quantitative and qualitative research points to the growing prominence of Mexican narco-trafficking organization as the source of this increase. The purpose of this violence is influence. Narco-trafficker’s actions compel political institutions to decrease anti-drug aggression.  A political institution is a structure that performs a function of the political system.  Politicians, political parities, the military, and the police are all political institutions that are typically targeted by DTOs. The violence used against these institutions can be classified into two types: retaliation and coercion. Overall, cartels use a combination of these two forms of violence to influence political institutions at an increasing rate.