The challenge of violent drug-trafficking organizations : an assessment of Mexican security based on existing RAND research on urban unrest, insurgency, and defense-sector reform / Christopher Paul, Agnes Gereben Schaefer, Colin P. Clarke.
Title
The challenge of violent drug-trafficking organizations : an assessment of Mexican security based on existing RAND research on urban unrest, insurgency, and defense-sector reform / Christopher Paul, Agnes Gereben Schaefer, Colin P. Clarke.
Violent drug-trafficking organizations (VDTOs) in Mexico produce, transport, and deliver into the United States tens of billions of dollars worth of narcotics annually, but their activities are not limited to drug trafficking. VDTOs have also engaged in human trafficking, weapon trafficking, kidnapping, money laundering, extortion, bribery, racketeering, and assassinations. In an effort to clarify the scope and details of the challenges posed by VDTOs, a RAND team conducted a Delphi expert elicitation exercise, the results of which offer an assessment of the contemporary security situation in Mexico through the lens of existing RAND research on related issues. The exercise centered around three strands of prior RAND research on urban instability and unrest, historical insurgencies, and defense-sector reform. Although this prior research was not designed specifically for the study of Mexico, all three areas offer applicable insights. Assessment scorecards from these projects were used to obtain input from the expert panel and to guide the resulting discussion. The goal was not to break significant new ground in understanding the dynamics of drug violence in Mexico or to offer a qualitative assessment of these dynamics, but rather to provide an empirically based platform for identifying key areas that merit further investigation.
"Prepared for the Office of the Secretary of Defense."
"Rand National Defense Research Institute."
"This research was conducted within the International Security and Defense Policy Center of the RAND National Defense Research Institute"--Preface.
Bibliography (note)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Additional Formats (note)
Also available via the internet.
Processing Action (note)
committed to retain
Contents
Introduction -- Methods and approach : applying existing RAND research tools to Mexico -- Results from the RAND Mexican security Delphi exercise -- Findings from the urban flashpoints scorecard -- Findings from the COIN scorecard -- Findings from the DSART scorecard -- Conclusions and suggestions for further research.