ABSTRACT

The challenge of establishing police accountability in new democracies is immense, especially in those countries where democratic transition has come incrementally rather than through an abrupt break with an authoritarian past. When the country also faces major economic challenges ranging from growing income inequality to sustained un-or under-employment and rising informality, increased violence linked to cross-border drug trade, and a history of corruption, human rights abuses, and police impunity, this task is even more daunting. This is nowhere more evident than in Mexico.