UC Irvine

This research project explores how a militarized national security strategy to fight the war on drugs is transnationalized from the U.S. to Mexico and how it affects women's security in Mexico. I decided to construct three different causal graphs to clarify this research's path. The first model connects the USA's militarist war on drugs to the current strategy utilized by the Mexican government to combat drug trafficking. This model helps expose the transnational nature of this policy and provides background information on why and how militarization has become the preferred strategy in Latin America to combat drug trafficking. The second model helps trace how the militarized policy leads to increased violence against women committed by the military, DTOs and the symbiotic relationship and interaction between both the military and DTOs. The third model shows how the government's narrative of a successful militaristic drug war leads to an inadequate response to increased violence against women that only perpetuates the problem. I trace how the current militarized policy to combat the drug trade in Mexico has led to a symbiotic relationship between the military and DTOs. Each side's strategies and processes lead to an increase in physical and psychological non-domestic violence towards women. I argue that the need to create a narrative regarding the successes of the military strategy in combating DTOs leads the government to cover up or deny the increase of violence against women due to the current strategy. I use process tracing methodology to establish a detailed timeline to establish temporal precedence to reveal how the Mexican government enacts the current militarist drug war policy in Mexico. I also use process tracing methodology to clarify and trace how the militarist war on drugs affects women's security in a variety of ways and expose the mechanisms behind the rise of violence against women. My study focuses on reports that compile government data, non-governmental institutions working on violence against women and academic research to link increasing contact points between women and the military and violence perpetrated by the military against women. My study also includes open-ended interviews to gain further leverage for my analysis, triangulate my results and provide first-hand accounts by leaders on the subject of violence against women.