OPPORTUNITY STRUCTURES EXPLAINING THE INTENSIFICATION OF DRUG-RELATED VIOLENCE IN MEXICO: AN ANALYSIS OF LOS ZETAS, SINALOA FEDERATION, AND LA FAMILIA MICHACOANA/ THE KNIGHTS TEMPLAR FROM 2006-2012.

Abstract

This essay provides us with an analysis that takes multiple angles of the drug-related conflict in Mexico into account. By using the notion of opportunity structures, actions of Drug Trafficking Organizations are analyzed and placed into an ideological, social, and discursive environment in order to explain the strategic reframing and the intensification of violence used by Los Zetas, the Sinaloa Federation, and La Familia Michacoana/The Knights Templar from 2006-2012 in Mexico.