Citizen security revisited: Whose security/ies are we talking about?

Abstract

This article addresses two issues related to citizen security and its developments in Mexico. First, it analyzes the limits of citizen security in terms of its exclusions and marginalizations as they particularly affect women and migrants. It is argued that citizen security policy does not capture the multilayered security concerns that affect women. As programs of citizen security are primarily directed at public spaces, gender-based violence, in particular domestic violence, is not included in its conceptualization. Second, migrants in transit are being excluded from citizen security for being noncitizens and thus “underserving subjects.” Moreover, citizen security tends to be place-bound as it is directed at the community level, while migrants are persons in situations of mobility and therefore escape place-bound initiatives. The second part of this article focuses on how the current militarization of Mexico's security policy has affected citizen security. It finds that this militarization has deprioritized citizen security, affecting women and migrants in particular.