The authors make a number of arguments that challenge the accepted wisdom on Mexico’s drug war. One is that the “war” is relatively new; the authors suggest it is the product of a series of policies implemented by the US and Mexico over the past 100 years.

“Most people, when they talk about the ‘Mexican drug war,’ are thinking only of the Calderon period, but those six years were a century in the making,” Wallace told InSight Crime.

Wallace and Boullosa also propose that the reference to “Mexico’s drug war” is actually a misnomer, since the the United States has played an equally important part in creating and sustaining the drug war. Mexico’s acquiescence to flawed US security policies is a major reason for the growth of cartels, however, the authors stress that corruption in Mexico played an important role as well.

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