Shoot first, ask later: violence and anti-crime policies in Mexicos Cuidad Jurez and Pakistans Karachi

Abstract

This chapter explores the sources of urban insecurity and violence in Karachi, Pakistan and Cuidad Juárez, Mexico since the 1990s. Based on fieldwork, the chapter also examines and assesses the effects and effectiveness of a wide-range of anti-crime measures, including the deployments of national military and paramilitary forces, the role of national and local police forces, and the role of politicians, the business community, and civil society in responding to violent crime and a broad set of local illicit economies. Economic engines of their countries and highly dependent on and intermeshed in global trade as key transportation and manufacturing hubs, both cities are also deeply plugged into global smuggling networks. In both, and intensely so in Karachi, crime and violence are also deeply intertwined with ethnic politics. Moreover, unlike Cuidad Juárez, Karachi also grapples with waves of global and local terrorism.