Reconceptualised security in Mexico

Abstract

Discussing some of the main security challenges in Mexico related to regional development implies from the outset placing oneself in the midst of the conceptual debates about security and also deciding one’s stance on the various trans-Atlantic security trends in dispute. At one extreme is the so-called narrowed security perspective, which focuses on military and political issues. From the end of the Cold War and the bipolar world, this has typically been associated with the USA’s position and has become ever more evident during the war against terrorism launched after the Two Towers attack on 11 September 2001. At the other end of the spectrum is the re-conceptualised security view centred on the wider, deeper and sectorialised position which, though associated with military and political challenges , clearly goes beyond them since it embodies on an equal footing other kinds of challenges, such as economic, environmental, sociocultural, and gender-related issues. This perspective characterises the position of some European and Asian countries, such as Germany and Japan.