“State ineffectiveness in deterring organized crime style homicide in Mexico: a vicious cycle”

Institutional weaknesses in the criminal justice system (limited court capacity and the increasingly sophisticated armament of splintering drug trafficking organizations) limit the effectivity of Mexican states to deter organized crime style homicide. Court capacity, expressed by increasing sentencing rates in states where the oral court system was institutionalized, remains insufficient against the post-2006 organized crime related homicide epidemic. The illegal arms market, combined with long-standing deficits in firepower between organized crime and municipal police forces, limit the state’s capacity to alter the arms balance toward policing forces. Taken together, limited court capacity and the tactical imbalance of weapons held by drug trafficking organizations create a vicious cycle which continually perpetuates state ineffectiveness to deter and punish organized crime style homicide.

     

Book reviews

The Nationalities Question in the Post‐Soviet States Graham Smith (editor) New York and London: Longman Group, 1996, xiv + 524 pp. $21.00 pb (second edition)

Regional Power Rivalries in the New Eurasia: Russia, Turkey and Iran Alvin Z. Rubinstein and Oles M. Smolansky (editors) New York: M. E. Sharpe, Inc., 1995, xii 4‐ 290 pp, pb

Kochevaia tsivilizatsiia kazakhov: osnovy zhiznedeiatel'nosti nomadnogo obshchestva (Nomad civilisation of the Kazaks: bases of the life activity of a nomad society) Nurbulat Masanov Almaty: Sotsivest. 1995

Atlas Geopolitique Informatique du Caucase Nicolas Beroutchachvili and Jean Radvanyi (editors) Paris: Observatoire des Etats Post‐Sovietiques (INALCO) 1996

Aurel Stein. Pioneer of the Silk Road Annabel Walker London: John Murray, 1995, 393 pp, illus., £25

Empire's Edge. Travels in South‐Eastern Europe, Turkey and Central Asia Scott Malcomson London: Faber and Faber, 256 pp, £8.99, pb

Frontiers of Heaven. A Journey Beyond the Great Wall Stanley Stewart London: John Murray, 1995, 223 pp, illus, £16.99

Art and Nationalism in Colonial India 1850–1922, Occidental Orientations Partha Mitter Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1994, 475 pp, illus, index, £60     

Die Unterwasserreinigung von Seeschiffen als Herausforderung für das Gewässerschutzrecht

Natur und Recht - Dieser Beitrag knüpft thematisch an den in NuR 2021, 361ff. erschienenen Beitrag “Die Regulierung der Einführung invasiver gebietsfremder Arten durch Biofouling an...     

Including Older Adults in Development Goals: Is Subjective Wellbeing the Answer? A Case Study of Older South Africans

Measures of subjective wellbeing are gaining importance as indicators of overall societal progress, yet the majority of studies come from higher income countries. This paper explores the relationship between human development indicators and measures of subjective wellbeing among persons aged 50-plus in South Africa. Using the first nationally representative population-based study of older South Africans, WHO Study on global AGEing and adult health (WHO SAGE), this paper adds to a small but growing literature on subjective wellbeing in lower-income countries. Results indicate that education, socio-economic status and health are, in fact, correlated with measures of subjective wellbeing, but the relationships and strength of the relationships differ depending on the measure used to assess wellbeing.