The “New Wars”: security and cooperation in Mexico and Northern Central America

Abstract

This article analyzes the current security crisis in Mexico and northern Central America from a comparative and subregional perspective. It does so by focusing on the “new wars” waged by the governments of these countries since the early 2000s against transnational criminal organizations and youth gangs. While acknowledging the weight and impact of these criminal actors in these countries’ levels of insecurity and violence, we suggest these challenges cannot be understood without looking at the series of political missteps that have repeatedly derailed efforts to build accountable institutions and comprehensive policies to fight crime and violence in the subregion. The article argues that, given the common challenges faced by these countries, subregional cooperation initiatives could offer an important mechanism to build integral and long-term security policies if the right conditions (at the domestic and transnational levels) were to be in place.