Between soldiers and cops: the transnational boundary work of militarization in Mexico.

The article examines the militarization of policing in Mexico from 1983 to 2024, focusing on how state justifications for deploying soldiers in law enforcement are shaped by multiple forms of police–military boundary reconfiguration—namely blurring, bridging, redrawing, and maintenance—and how these are discursively enabled by transnational security logics circulating through US–Mexico security cooperation. By analyzing Mexican national development plans, US foreign military training (FMT) data, and security assistance programs such as the Mérida Initiative, the study reveals that militarized policing is not merely a domestic anomaly but a transnationally constituted practice influenced by evolving threat conceptions and cooperation frameworks. The findings highlight that militarization is legitimized through complex boundary work that often portrays soldiers as more effective than police, despite concerns about democratic governance and human rights. The article underscores the importance of transparency and oversight in foreign military training to address the transnational dimensions of militarized policing and its implications for security policy.