The balloon effect and Mexican homeland security : what it means to be the weakest link in the Americas' security chain
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Authors
Rodriguez Cuevas, Jose A.
Subjects
Mexico
balloon effect
strategy
homeland security
transnational organized crime
drugs
violence
Americas' security chain
U.S.-Mexico relations
U.S.- Mexico border
Merida Initiative
Operation Intercept
Chinese-Exclusion Act
North American Free-Trade Agreement;
balloon effect
strategy
homeland security
transnational organized crime
drugs
violence
Americas' security chain
U.S.-Mexico relations
U.S.- Mexico border
Merida Initiative
Operation Intercept
Chinese-Exclusion Act
North American Free-Trade Agreement;
Advisors
Gomez, Rodrigo Nieto
Date of Issue
2011-12
Date
December 2011
Publisher
Monterey, California. Naval Postgraduate School
Language
Abstract
The sudden increase in crime and violence in some Mexican cities and regions has raised security concerns not only in Mexico, where President Felipe Calderon categorized these crimes as a threat to Mexican society, but also in the United States, where Homeland Secretary head Janet Napolitano referred to stemming the violence as "vital to core U.S. national interests." Mexico is concerned with the latent threat of violence spreading all over the nation, while the U.S. is trying to guard against spillover. Both governments are concerned by the increased violence and its impact on communities along the U.S.--Mexican border. Because of its geopolitical location along the southern U.S. border, Mexico is susceptible to possible undesired effects of U.S. strategies. These unintended, second-degree consequences are known as "balloon effects," after the airflow inside a balloon when constriction applied to one area sends pressure to another area in the balloon, thinning and weakening its wall. Since 2006, Mexico's strategy for countering transnational organized crime and related activities has sent the balloon effect in two directions: first, inside Mexico, where government actions have unbalanced the criminal structure, creating balloon effects inside Mexican territory; and second, within the U.S. while asking to escalate the Mexican effort to improve its anti-crime strategy with U.S. assistance has escalated conflict and led to a holistic strategy against transnational organized crime and related activities in the Americas.
Type
Thesis
Description
Series/Report No
Department
Defense Analysis (DA)
Organization
Identifiers
NPS Report Number
Sponsors
Funder
Format
xiv, 69 p. : ill. ; 28 cm.
Citation
Distribution Statement
Rights
This publication is a work of the U.S. Government as defined in Title 17, United States Code, Section 101. Copyright protection is not available for this work in the United States.