Author Type

Undergraduate Student

Date of Award

Spring 5-2025

Document Type

Thesis

Publication Status

Version of Record

Submission Date

June 2026

College Granting Degree

Harriet L. Wilkes Honors College

Thesis/Dissertation Advisor [Chair]

Timothy J. Steigenga

Abstract

This thesis argues that the most effective policy approaches for remedying transnational organized criminal activity require international, state, and local dimensions. I conduct a comparative case study of El Salvador and Mexico that highlights the successes of Nayib Bukele’s severe crackdown and preventative methods in El Salvador and the specific inadequacies of Claudia Sheinbaum and Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s negotiation and cooperation strategies in Mexico. In both cases, the ‘war on drugs’ pushed for by the United States limited effectiveness on the international level and inhibited the formation of effective multilateral agreements. But the progress made on the local and state level in El Salvador is unquestionable. While Bukele’s policies have been legitimately criticized for violating human rights and due process in El Salvador, they have been significantly more successful in dealing with transnational organized crime than those of successive governments in Mexico

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