MEXICAN STYLE CORRUPTION, IMPUNIDAD; Julio Cameron
MEXICAN STYLE CORRUPTION: The sort of corruption that was rife in colonial New Spain -- buying and selling political posts, currying political favors from friends, bootlegging, etc. -- was similar to what you had in in Italy or Chile, and even in not-so-puritanical England. And yet, neither Italy, Chile nor England have Mexico's problems. Something else happened since the Spanish conquest that can account for the difference. Sadly, though, that account lacks the appealing simplicity of cherry tree mythologies. In fact, understanding Mexico's current quagmire of impunity requires analysis of the complicated history of the weakness of the Mexican state, particularly in comparison to the United States, so brace yourselves, because there is no other way forward. THE WEAK STATE Economically, Mexico fell far behind the United States in the decades between 1820 and 1880. Its destructive wars of independence ravished the old colony's mining and agricultural economy. Inte...