“El que no tranza, no avanza”- A sociolegal study of the interrelations between the colonial history of Mexico and the persistence of organized crime and corruption

Abstract: This research dealt with the investigation of the potential effects of the colonial history on contemporary Mexican society and the inherent relations between this historical period and the persistent existence of organized crime and corruption. The investigation was carried out by taking an approach of grounded theory and, subsequently, electively applying the theories of postcolonialism, advanced marginality and legal alienation with the aim of presenting a comprehensive thematic analysis of the qualitative research data gathered through expert interviews and complementary quantitative data retrieved from selected preceding research on the social phenomena in question. The results discovered and presented in this thesis demonstrate a clear connection between the colonial history of Mexico and the present-day levels of organized crime and corruption. Through the dynamic interplay between the theoretical framework, it was concluded that the colonial period, to a large degree, contributed to the exacerbation of inequality within society and that, consequently, advanced marginality contributes to the persistent levels of inequality and subsequently organized crime and corruption. Due to continuous marginalizing and segregating structures and dynamics, important parts of the Mexican population experience a feeling of distance from general society and official legislation, which creates and contributes to a vicious circle of retention in poverty, where the dichotomy of “them” and “us” further deepens the distance and inequality in the general population.