Organizational Form and Fragmentation in the Lethal Outcomes of Mexico’s Vigilante Mobilizations, 2012–2015

Bibliographic Details
Title: Organizational Form and Fragmentation in the Lethal Outcomes of Mexico’s Vigilante Mobilizations, 2012–2015
Authors: Dolores Trevizo
Source: Latin American Research Review, Vol 60, Pp 158-176 (2025)
Publisher Information: Cambridge University Press, 2025.
Publication Year: 2025
Collection: LCC:Latin America. Spanish America
LCC:Social Sciences
Subject Terms: vigilantes, violence, de-escalation, escalation, organizational forms, violencia, conflicto armado, formas organizativas, desescalar, Latin America. Spanish America, F1201-3799, Social Sciences
More Details: In 2013, people in Michoacán and Guerrero, especially from rural areas, armed themselves against criminal cartels. Although their movements emerged from comparable contexts, their leaders and organizational forms differed in ways that affected their tactics and targets, as well as the timing of de-escalation. Whereas Guerrero’s leaders understood their struggle as defensive, Michoacán’s leaders were businessmen who saw themselves engaged in an offensive campaign. This partly explains why fatalities were greater there than in Guerrero. I further demonstrate that movement fragmentation led to lethal violence, and their organizational forms also contributed to dynamics of escalation or de-escalation in ways not fully appreciated by scholars. Specifically, the organizational form of Michoacán’s patron-sponsored autodefensas made them more vulnerable to lethal violence than were Guerrero’s community-sponsored organizations.
Document Type: article
File Description: electronic resource
Language: English
Spanish; Castilian
Portuguese
ISSN: 1542-4278
Relation: https://www.cambridge.org/core/product/identifier/S1542427824000397/type/journal_article; https://doaj.org/toc/1542-4278
DOI: 10.1017/lar.2024.39
Access URL: https://doaj.org/article/8c2e8d57d9134885b07876e2511d63af
Accession Number: edsdoj.8c2e8d57d9134885b07876e2511d63af
Database: Directory of Open Access Journals
More Details
ISSN:15424278
DOI:10.1017/lar.2024.39
Published in:Latin American Research Review
Language:English
Spanish; Castilian
Portuguese