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The Power Of Perceptions: How Social Capital Is Being Impacted By Crime And Corruption In Mexico, Pablo G. Paras

Doctoral Dissertations

Coinciding with the transition to democracy in Mexico (and elsewhere in Latin America), violent crime increased substantially and joined with the citizenry’s concerns about corruption. The overarching question of the research can be summarized as: How and how much do perceptions and experiences with crime and corruption impact democracy? In its most general conception the thesis is that in Mexico, an increasingly adverse context (experience + perceptions) of crime and corruption has a negative and significant impact on social capital. This discussion can be viewed as a partial assessment of the quality of democracy in Mexico. The topic is of …