Mexico’s response to the drug war and its impact on human security

Sammanfattning: Drug war has become a global issue that is affecting the whole population. One country that has been especially affected is Mexico. There are more than 120 million people living in Mexico and only in 2007 and 2008 more than eight thousand were assassinated in relation to drug conflicts, including over 500 police officers. Kidnapping has also increased enormously.  Since The Human Security aspect is taking more and more space on the international agenda, it has been chosen as a theoretical framework for this study.   In order to answer the research question, which is to what extent the Mexican government has taken human security principles into account in the war against the drug cartels, a case study method has been used. Focus of the study is the aspect of human security and antidrug policies in Mexico, between 2004 and 2010.   The results of this study show that there is a lack of Human Security Principles in the Mexican strategy to fight the drug cartels. During Felipe’s Calderon president mandate the power has been given to the military forces, excluding the police from the governmental actions. Civilians rights and threats to their personal security has been forgotten and that had led to many violations of human rights.