Paper/Proposal Title

Frame Stickiness: Explaining variation in how human rights organizations have confronted violence in Mexico since 2006

Presenter/Author Information

Janice Gallagher, Cornell University

Location

River Campus - Room M2060

Start Date

10-4-2013 3:15 PM

Abstract

During the six years of the Calderón administration in Mexico, violence, especially murders and disappearances, increased exponentially. Mexico’s existing human rights institutions – both governmental and non-governmental – have responded with varying degrees of flexibility and involvement in the face of this humanitarian crisis. This paper discusses how non-governmental civil society organizations, both NGOs and informal groups of “victims,” have responded to this crisis, and focuses on their formulation and execution of strategies to pursue justice and search for the disappeared. This paper concentrates on the variation in local responses to violence. By analyzing differences in organizational mission and history, advocacy strategies, and involvement in local, national and international networks, this paper theorizes why human rights frames are “sticky” in some Mexican states and not others, and discusses the repercussions of this “stickiness.” This paper will draw on case studies of a national peace movement (Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad), together with two organizations in the north of Mexico.

Comments

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Oct 4th, 3:15 PM

Frame Stickiness: Explaining variation in how human rights organizations have confronted violence in Mexico since 2006

River Campus - Room M2060

During the six years of the Calderón administration in Mexico, violence, especially murders and disappearances, increased exponentially. Mexico’s existing human rights institutions – both governmental and non-governmental – have responded with varying degrees of flexibility and involvement in the face of this humanitarian crisis. This paper discusses how non-governmental civil society organizations, both NGOs and informal groups of “victims,” have responded to this crisis, and focuses on their formulation and execution of strategies to pursue justice and search for the disappeared. This paper concentrates on the variation in local responses to violence. By analyzing differences in organizational mission and history, advocacy strategies, and involvement in local, national and international networks, this paper theorizes why human rights frames are “sticky” in some Mexican states and not others, and discusses the repercussions of this “stickiness.” This paper will draw on case studies of a national peace movement (Movimiento por la Paz con Justicia y Dignidad), together with two organizations in the north of Mexico.