Uneven Landscapes of Violence: Geographies of Law and Accumulation in Mexico

Muñoz Martínez argues that the nexus of criminality, illegality, and violence is integral to neoliberal state formation, leading to dispossession, extortion, and private appropriation of public funds, and widespread violence by state forces and criminal groups.

Format: Paperback / softback
Length: 186 pages
Publication date: 03 February 2022
Publisher: Haymarket Books

Muñoz Martínez challenges the conventional view of systemic violence in Mexico as solely attributable to drugs, criminality, or a failing and corrupt state. Instead, she argues in her book "Uneven Landscapes of Violence" that the nexus of criminality, illegality, and violence is integral to the formation of neoliberal states. According to Muñoz Martínez, this nexus played a crucial role in the dispossession of individuals and communities after 2000, through forced displacement, extortion, and the private appropriation of public funds. Additionally, she highlights how the neoliberal emphasis on the rule of law to protect private property and contracts has further blurred the boundaries between legality and illegality, obscuring the criminal and violent origins of economic gain. Muñoz Martínez's analysis provides a more comprehensive understanding of the complex relationship between systemic violence, neoliberalism, and state formation in Mexico.

Weight: 298g
Dimension: 152 x 230 x 14 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781642596144