Legality and Extra-legality in Mexico

Abstract

There are many ways of dealing with events that are perceived by a government as threats to the stability of the existing political system. Two contrasting ways will be discussed in this study of Mexico, and an attempt will be made to evaluate their relative efficacy in controlling activities regarded as subversive by the government in question. The first method to be discussed will be referred to as the legal approach to subversion. Focus will be on both the latent and manifest functions (in Mertonian terms) of the letter, intent, and implementation of the Mexican law. The ley de disolución social (law of social dissolution) forms part of the Mexican Federal Penal Code, which is applicable throughout the entire republic.