State Vacuum and Non-State Actors: The Case of Michoacán

Many authors and scholars agree about the close relationship between the development of organized crime and the State vacuum. Historically, the rise of criminal actors is often a consequence of States’ institutional weaknesses in social, economic and political areas. In particular, strong criminal organizations rise up when the State is not able to reflect the Weberian definition of the State as "monopoly of the legitimate use of physical force within a given territory". This issue is particularly relevant in relation to the current Mexican criminal scenario. This paper aims at analyzing the case of Michoacán, a western Mexican state where a complete absence of a State and legitimate institutions have led to the expansion of the drug cartels presence and self-defense group. In order to understand the relevance of this paradigmatic case, this work is divided into two main parts. The first section is characterized by a theoretical framework where the relations between the State vacuum and the consequent development of non-state actors, especially organized crime will be underlined. In the second part the case of Michoacán will be described. Firstly the economic, social, geographical and political factors that have led to the development of a parallel “criminal” state will be emphasized. Here thanks to weak local government and massive police corruption, some drug cartels imposed their law, such as Familia Michoacana and Caballeros Templarios, creating a strong social base. Secondly, this paper aims to investigate the rise of self-defense groups during the last three years. It is important to underline that the impotence of institutions (mainly local government) and the power vacuum have forced the population to take up arms to defend themselves from the various cartels activities, like extortions and kidnappings. Finally, some considerations will be drawn on the relationship between theoretical framework and this particular case of Michoacán.