What contemporary lessons does the Mexican post-revolutionary era offer?
First, violence begets violence. In Iraq, tolerating militias with particular ethnic and religious identities in the hope of greater security in the short term has meant the vicious cycle of coercion began again. The biggest casualties are not just peace and security, but also democracy. If the new regime leadership could focus first on building state institutions and making them accountable, transparent and pluralistic, Iraqi society might get just enough breathing space to exit from the chaos, disorder and conflict. Also, if the creation of a new police system were to be acknowledged as the first in many steps of democratic nation-building, rather than as a strategy for targeting and suppressing enemies, the country may be set on a much more auspicious path. Q: How would you like your research to be used? A: My hope is that such knowledge will generate policy insights to help administrators and police practitioners learn from history, so that Iraq and other contemporary countries exp
