Is Narco-Violence in Mexico Terrorism?

Mexico's drug 'war' produced 100,000 deaths between 2006 and 2012. The extreme violence has raised the notion that Mexico has become a failed state wracked by terrorism. We categorise the forms of narco-violence in Mexico in light of the literature on terrorism and contemporary Mexican politics. Our study suggests three overlapping dimensions of narco-violence that should be considered terrorism: (a) narco-terror as a struggle for regional political control; (b) narco-terror as a practice ordered by cartel leaders rather than spontaneous violence of foot soldiers; and (c) narco-terror as an expansion strategy from solely drug trafficking to other kinds of organised crime.