Disorder and Progress: Bandits, Police, and Mexican Development (Latin American Silhouettes)

This reissue of Prof. Vanderwood's groundbreaking study-available again for the first time in a decade-examines bandits, police, and Mexican politics as a whole, showing how different groups used the agents of order and disorder to serve their interests. Originally published in 1981, Disorder and Progress was subsequently revised and updated in 1992. Added to the enlarged 1992 edition and included here in this reissue are the entirely new introduction, material on the period of the independence wars and on Pancho Villa, and an updated bibliography. This book also incorporates additional data and interpretations regarding bandits and instruments for maintaining order that were included in the 1992 edition. Maps and illustrations will help readers appreciate the issues under discussion. Part I. The balance of order and disorder -- 1. Ambitious bandits: disorder equals progress -- 2. The aura of the king -- 3. The spoils of independence -- 4. Bent on being modern -- 5. Bandits into police, and vice versa -- Part II. Toward the Western model -- 6. Order, disorder, and development -- 7. The limits to dictatorship -- 8. A kind of peace -- Part III. A political police performance -- 9. Constabulary of campesinos and artisans -- 10. The president's police -- 11. It's the image that counts -- Part IV. Demons of revolution unleashed -- 12. The rollercoaster called capitalism-- 13. Unraveling the old regime -- 14. Disorder in search of order. Examines bandits, police, and Mexican politics as a whole, showing how different groups used the agents of order and disorder to serve their interests. This work includes material on the period of the independence wars and on Pancho Villa, and a bibliography.