Torture as a method of criminal prosecution: Police Brutality, the Militarization of Security and the Reform of Inquisitorial Criminal Justice in Mexico

How can societies restrain their coercive institutions and transition to a more humane criminal justice system? We argue that two main factors explain why torture can persist as a generalized practice in democratic societies: weak institutional protections of the rights of criminal suspects and the militarization of policing, which leads the police to act as if their job were to occupy a war zone. With the use of a large survey of the Mexican prison population and leveraging the date and place of arrest, this paper provides valid causal evidence about how these two explanatory variables shape torture. Our paper provides a grim picture of the survival of authoritarian policing practices in democracies. It also provides novel evidence of the extent to which the abolition of inquisitorial criminal justice institutions - a remnant of colonial legacies and a common trend in the region - has worked to restrain police brutality

Living in Fear: The Dynamics of Extortion in Mexico’s Drug War

Why do drug trafficking organizations (DTOs) sometimes prey on the communities in which they operate but sometimes provide assistance to these communities? What explains their strategies of extortion and co-optation toward civil society? Using new survey data from Mexico, including list experiments to elicit responses about potentially illegal behavior, this article measures the prevalence of extortion and assistance among DTOs. In support of our theory, these data show that territorial contestation among rival organizations produces more extortion and, in contrast, DTOs provide more assistance when they have monopoly control over a turf. The article uncovers other factors that also shape DTOs’ strategies toward the population, including the degree of collaboration with the state, leadership stability and DTO organization, and the value and logistics of the local criminal enterprise

Maya lime mortars. Relationships between archaeometric dating, manufacturing technique and architectural function. The Dzibanché case

[EN] Researchers have related the manufacturing technique of plasters and stucco in the Maya area with their period of production but not with their architectural function. In this paper, we establish a relationship between those three features (manufacturing technique, age, and architectural function) in the plasters of the Maya site of Dzibanche in southern Quintana Roo. Dzibanche has abundant remains of stuccos and plasters found mainly in three buildings (Plaza Pom, Pequena Acropolis, and Structure 2). We used thin sections, SEM and XRD, and archaeomagnetic dating processes. The pictorial layer of Structure 2 was the earliest (AD 274-316 and the stuccoes and plasters of the other two buildings were dated to the Middle Classic (AD 422-531), but we obtained different archaeomagnetic dates for the red pigment layers found in the buildings of the Pequena Acropolis and thus we were able to determine their chronological order of construction. The raw materials and proportions were carefully chosen to fulfil the mechanical necessities of the architectonic function: different proportions were found in plasters of floors, in the external walls, and inside the buildings; differences between earlier and later plasters were also detected.We acknowledge the archeological project of Dzibanche and Centro INAH Quintana Roo who generously allowed the extraction of the samples for this study; also we acknowledge the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico that gave a grant that allowed a three month research in the laboratories of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia. Financial support for the analysis of organic materials is kindly acknowledged; it was provided by the Spanish MINECO R+D project CTQ2014-53736-C3-1-P and also supported with ERDEF funds. The authors thank Jaime Diaz for his assistance in preparing thin sections.Straulino Mainou, L.; Sedov, S.; Soler Arechalde, AM.; Pi Puig, T.; Villa, G.; Balanzario Granados, S.; Domenech Carbo, MT.... (2016). Maya lime mortars. Relationships between archaeometric dating, manufacturing technique and architectural function. The Dzibanché case. Geosciences Journal. 6(4):49-1-49-27. https://doi.org/10.3390/geosciences6040049S49-149-276

Polysaccharide remains in Maya mural paintings: is it an evidence of the use of plant gums as binding medium of pigments and additive in the mortar?

A number of monosaccharides characteristic of plant gums were found in paint layers and preparation layers of samples of Maya mural paintings of 10 archaeological sites located in Campeche and Yucatan regions. This finding opens the question about the deliberate use of these organic polymers as additives for improving workability and mechanical properties in the preparation layer mortar and conferring cohesion to the pigments in the paint layer. The study performed by GC-MS has confirmed the presence, in significant amounts, of a series of monosaccharides, being glucose and mannose between the most abundantly found. Nevertheless, the low amount present in most of the samples hindered the quantification of the relative proportion of monosaccharides necessary for identifying the botanical species of the plant gum. According to the accepted methodology used by Maya artists for preparing painting materials, bark of trees containing plant gums was added to the slaked lime stored in pools and that should be consistent with the notable amounts of glucose, mannose and other monosaccharides forming the skeleton of hemicelluloses and cellulose found in most of the samples. Although organic matter can be present in paint samples exposed to the external environment in Mesoamerican region as result of the microbiological activity, marker compounds characteristic of products resulting from their metabolism were not found in the studied sample

Characterization of Color Production in Xalla´s Palace Complex, Teotihuacan

A multi-analytical approach was used to characterize color remains from Xalla, a Teotihuacan palace complex (project Teotihuacan, Elite and Government. Excavations in Xalla led by Linda R. Manzanilla). Color samples were obtained from polished lithic instruments and pigment ores. Those samples were analyzed combining microscopic and spectroscopic techniques. Our results coincide with previous studies in Teotihuacan, with the chromatic palette displaying a predominance of iron oxides such as hematite, yellow ochre and natural earths, as well as malachite, celadonite and glauconite. We have enlarged the corpus of raw materials with the characterization of jarosite and bone white and mica as aggregate. The identification of raw materials crossed with functional analysis of polished lithic artefacts suggests a production and application process for the pigmenting materials that were divided in four phases, from the crushing of the raw material to the application and finishing of the painted surfaces

Co-optation & Clientelism: Nested Distributive Politics in China’s Single-Party Dictatorship

What explains the persistent growth of public employment in reform-era China despite repeated and forceful downsizing campaigns? Why do some provinces retain more public employees and experience higher rates of bureaucratic expansion than others? Among electoral regimes, the creation and distribution of public jobs is typically attributed to the politics of vote buying and multi-party competition. Electoral factors, however, cannot explain the patterns observed in China’s single-party dictatorship. This study highlights two nested factors that influence public employment in China: party co-optation and personal clientelism. As a collective body, the ruling party seeks to co-opt restive ethnic minorities by expanding cadre recruitment in hinterland provinces. Within the party, individual elites seek to expand their own networks of power by appointing clients to office. The central government’s professed objective of streamlining bureaucracy is in conflict with the party’s co-optation goal and individual elites’ clientelist interest. As a result, the size of public employment has inflated during the reform period despite top-down mandates to downsize bureaucracy.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/116599/1/Ang, Cooptation & Clientelism, posted 2016-01.pdfDescription of Ang, Cooptation & Clientelism, posted 2016-01.pdf : First Onlin

“Tying Incumbents’ Hands”: The Effects of Election Monitoring on Electoral Outcome

Electoral observation missions (EOM) are designed to promote improvements in democratic quality by overseeing elections, but how successful are they? We argue that EOM tie the hands of incumbents, who have to adjust their electoral misconduct strategies, thus opening up political competition and making it more likely that the opposition will do well. Moreover, we propose that monitoring effects are conditioned by regime type, expecting that EOM presence has a stronger impact on electoral competition in autocracies than in democracies. Using a dataset of 580 parliamentary and presidential elections in 108 countries between 1976 and 2009 we find support for our theoretical claims. EOM increase electoral competitiveness in dictatorships by reducing margins of victory for incumbents, but leave competition unaffected in democracies. Furthermore, our analysis indicates that, contrary to previous findings, EOM increase the probability of electoral turnover in dictatorships but have no effect on democracies

Internationalisation as a democratic tool:revisiting Mexico's double transition

Mexico's double transition—democratisation and internationalisation—offers a good case study to analyse the interaction between internationalisation processes and domestic developments during transitions to democracy. This article explains how the specific way in which Mexico linked with North America worked as a causal mechanism during the country's democratisation. In the end, an inadequate project of internationalisation—spearheaded by the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA)—failed to fulfill its democratising potential

Solving Multi-objective Integer Programs using Convex Preference Cones

Esta encuesta tiene dos objetivos: en primer lugar, identificar a los individuos que fueron víctimas de algún tipo de delito y la manera en que ocurrió el mismo. En segundo lugar, medir la eficacia de las distintas autoridades competentes una vez que los individuos denunciaron el delito que sufrieron. Adicionalmente la ENVEI busca indagar las percepciones que los ciudadanos tienen sobre las instituciones de justicia y el estado de derecho en Méxic

Interés legítimo en amparo. un instrumento procesal “Comunitarista”**Agradezco mucho la revisión crítica de este texto al profesor Rodolfo Vázquez Cardozo (ITAM).

ResumenParte importante de la interpretación constitucional se origina como producto del juicio de amparo; sin embargo, ello no implica que la Suprema Corte de Justicia de la Nación haya construido una teoría constitucional uniforme sobre los derechos y libertades. Este texto tiene tres propósitos: a) mostrar que el discurso justificatorio de la Corte sobre los derechos se ha elaborado a partir de un enfoque de justicia comunitarista o, en ocasiones, utilitarista; b) subrayar que la interpretación del interés legítimo en amparo sigue la misma suerte, y c) destacar que la incorporación de dicha herramienta procesal con un enfoque distinto puede proyectar la inclusión de una visión liberal igualitaria en la justicia constitucional.AbstractAn important part of the constitutional interpretation arises as a result of the trial of amparo, however this does not imply that the Supreme Court of Justice has built a uniform theory of constitutional rights and freedoms. This text has three purposes: (a) show that speech rights court only has foundation on communitarianism justice or utilitarianism, (b) emphasize that the interpretation of legitimate interest in amparo follows the same fate and (c) noted that the incorporation of that procedural tool in the new model of amparo, can include of an egalitarian liberal view on constitutional justice