The US-Mexico Cooperation to Combat the International Threat of Drug Trafficking

Mexico and the US are facing a transnational threat in the form of drug trafficking. This paper focuses on the US-Mexico cooperation to combat this threat with the objective to evaluate its effectiveness. First, a theoretical base is set for a constructivist analysis of the cooperation by identifying changes that have resulted from the new post-international environment. An explanation of the rise of transnational threats and the ways they are constructed is given according to constructivism and the securitization theory as used by the Copenhagen school of security studies. This leads to an examination of how the threat posed by drug trafficking is perceived by Mexico and by the US and identifies why drug trafficking is indeed a transnational threat. To answer the question of the US-Mexico's effectiveness in this cooperation, a constructivist approach is used to identify the main flaws of their relation. Finally, an analysis of how these flaws have affected the forming and enforcement of specific anti-drug strategies is used to assess its impact