The Impact of Non-state Violent Actors on Democracy: Self-defense Groups, Paramilitary and Organized Crime in Mexico

Mexico is one of the most emblematic cases of the presence of diverse violent actors who not only challenge the state´s monopoly of violence but also impose a significant threat for the democratic quality. In Mexico these actors can be grouped in three main categories according to their objectives, their form to operate and their relation to the state: (1) organized crime groups, (2) paramilitary groups, (3) self-defense groups. While organized crime groups as well as paramilitary entities have a long tradition in Mexico that goes back to the 1950ths respectively the guerra sucia in the 1970thes, the self-defense groups are a more recent phenomena. The origin of latter can also be interpreted as a reaction of the violence and insecurity generated by the former ones in the last years. All three of these groups are resorting to violence to obtain certain goals such as obtaining benefits from illegal activities, defending the society against criminal actors or repressing the civil society. They also differ from each other regarding their relation to the state. The government uses different strategies to deal with these groups such as the intent to integrate them in the state structure or to combat them with military aims. A more profound qualitative analysis of these groups reveals that the boundaries between them are not as clear as it might seem after a first look. It also becomes clear, that the aims of these groups can change over time and that their conformation is heterogeneous and fluent in the sense, that not all individuals inside one group share the same interest. The question that arises is, which role these actors play in contemporaneous Mexico and which effects they have on the quality of democracy. Are they just presenting a challenge for the governability of the state or also for the main democratic institutions like elections, political rights and civil liberties? Or are they functional equivalents by fulfilling the state functions that the state itself is not able or willing to satisfy? Is Mexico a fragile state because of these strong informal tutelary powers or is the country more an authoritarian state by using these actors for its own purposes? The paper aims to answer these question (1) by analyzing the impact of the mentioned irregular violent actors on the central democratic institutions, using the 15-Field-Matrix of Democracy as analytic framework, and (2) by analyzing the relation between these groups and the state as well as the strategies of the state to deal with them. The paper follows an empirical oriented approach and will use secondary data as well as primary data, that was collected in a one-year field research in Mexico in 2013/2014 and 2015. The aim of the paper is to contribute to a clearer characterization of the different violent actors and their impact on the quality of democracy in Mexico. The empirical findings are not only useful for the special case of Mexico, but also for states which are facing similar problems of irregular armed groups.