Finding Common Ground

Abstract

Abstract Chapter 6 explores the degree to which party system institutionalization affected interparty consensus on security sector reform and the robust adoption of US security assistance in Colombia and Mexico. In Colombia, the centripetal orientation of the party system, convergence on security policy to address an existential crisis, and a public mandate to pursue an aggressive security strategy enabled Plan Colombia’s relative success. In Mexico, disagreements about the extent to which organized crime groups posed an existential threat to the state reinforced the programmatic polarization of the country’s leading parties. These disagreements rendered security policies an electoral issue. Interparty polarization and the politicization of security ultimately denied Mexico the continuity needed to sustain security sector reform across presidential administrations, despite the consistency of Mérida Initiative programming and US support.