UvA-DARE (Digital Academic Repository) The repression of boundary-blurring actors in subnational undemocratic regimes Empirical explorations in Veracruz and Gujarat Bartman, J.M. Publication date 2020 Document Version Final published version License Other Link to publication Citation for published version (APA): Bartman, J. M. (2020). The repression of boundary-blurring actors in subnational undemocratic regimes: Empirical explorations in Veracruz and Gujarat. General rights It is not permitted to download or to forward/distribute the text or part of it without the consent of the author(s) and/or copyright holder(s), other than for strictly personal, individual use, unless the work is under an open content license (like Creative Commons). Disclaimer/Complaints regulations If you believe that digital publication of certain material infringes any of your rights or (privacy) interests, please let the Library know, stating your reasons. In case of a legitimate complaint, the Library will make the material inaccessible and/or remove it from the website. Please Ask the Library: https://uba.uva.nl/en/contact, or a letter to: Library of the University of Amsterdam, Secretariat, Singel 425, 1012 WP Amsterdam, The Netherlands. You will be contacted as soon as possible. UvA-DARE is a service provided by the library of the University of Amsterdam (https://dare.uva.nl) Download date:01 Oct 2021 THE REPRESSION OF BOUNDARY-BLURRING ACTORS IN SUBNATIONAL UNDEMOCRATIC REGIMES JOS BARTMAN The repression of boundary-blurring actors in subnational undemocratic regimes Empirical explorations in Veracruz and Gujarat Jos Midas Bartman 548902-L-bw-Bartman Processed on: 30-9-2020 PDF page: 1 © Jos Midas Bartman 2020. The research reported herein received funding from the European Research Council (ERC) (grant agreement ID: 323899) Print: Ipskamp Printing Cover design: Gabriel Rodríguez ISBN: 978-94-6421-051-4 This thesis was printed on recycled paper. 548902-L-bw-Bartman Processed on: 30-9-2020 PDF page: 2 The repression of boundary-blurring actors in subnational undemocratic regimes; empirical explorations in Veracruz and Gujarat ACADEMISCH PROEFSCHRIFT ter verkrijging van de graad van doctor aan de Universiteit van Amsterdam op gezag van de Rector Magnificus prof. dr. ir. K.I.J. Maex ten overstaan van een door het College voor Promoties ingestelde commissie, in het openbaar te verdedigen in de Aula der Universiteit op vrijdag 23 oktober 2020, te 11:00 uur door Jos Midas Bartman geboren te Amsterdam 548902-L-bw-Bartman Processed on: 30-9-2020 PDF page: 3 Promotiecommissie: Promotor: mw. prof. dr. M. E. Glasius Universiteit van Amsterdam Copromotor: mw. dr. I. Harbers Universiteit van Amsterdam Overige leden: dhr. prof. dr. B. M. Burgoon Universiteit van Amsterdam mw. prof. dr. J. Demmers Universiteit Utrecht mw. prof. dr. B. B. Hogenboom Universiteit van Amsterdam mw. prof. dr. M. de Goede Universiteit van Amsterdam mw. dr. N. Vandekerckhove Universiteit van Amsterdam Faculteit: der Maatschappij – en Gedragswetenschappen 548902-L-bw-Bartman Processed on: 30-9-2020 PDF page: 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS List of abbreviations Acknowledgements Chapter 1: Introduction 13 Murder in Mexico 14 2. Focus and scope 16 2a. The Geographical Scope of Subnational Undemocratic Regimes 16 2b. The scope of boundary-blurring actors. 18 3. The extant literature 19 4. Relevance and importance: decline freedom and increasing decentralization 24 5. Research questions and dissertation structure 25 Chapter 2: Theoretical Framework 29 1. Introduction 30 2. Subnational undemocratic regimes 31 3. How do subnational undemocratic regimes sustain themselves domestically? 34 4. Multi-level embeddedness 36 5. Subnational power uncertainty 38 6. Boundary control and subnational power uncertainty 40 7. Compromising information and subnational power uncertainty. 42 8. Boundary-blurring actors and repression 44 9. Conclusions 45 Chapter 3: Research Design and Methodology 49 1. Introduction 50 2. Case characteristics 51 3. Mexico and India 51 4. Subnational cases 54 4a. Veracruz 54 4b. Gujarat 55 5. Data collection and analysis 55 5a. Quantitative data analysis 56 5b. Fieldwork 57 5c. Access & security measures for Mexico 58 5d. Access & security measures for India 61 5e. Sampling, protection of sources and respondents 62 5f. Unstructured and semi-structured interviews 63 5g. Process tracing 64 548902-L-bw-Bartman Processed on: 30-9-2020 PDF page: 5 Chapter 4: The Targeting of Journalists in Mexico 67 1. Introduction 68 2. Journalists and subnational power uncertainty in Mexico 70 2a. Boundary-blurring actors in Mexico 69 2b. Press freedom in Mexico 70 2c. The impact of journalists on subnational political elites in Mexico 72 3. The targeting of journalists in Mexican states 75 3a. Attacks on journalists in Mexico 75 3b. Journalist homicides in Mexico 77 3c. Two competing narratives about journalist homicides 77 3d. Journalists as the victims of general violence 78 3e. Journalists as the victims of targeted political violence 80 3f. Data to test propositions 82 3g. Analysis 84 3h. Reflections on the robustness of the test 87 4. Accounting for observed patterns 88 5. The killing of journalists in subnational undemocratic regimes 90 6. Conclusions 92 Chapter 5: The Repression of Journalists in Veracruz 97 1. Introduction 98 2a. Veracruz as a graveyard for journalists 100 2b. Veracruz as a subnational undemocratic regime 101 3. The functioning of veracruz as a subnational undemocratic regime 104 4. The media landscape and journalists in Veracruz 105 4a. The media landscape in Veracruz 106 4b. Critical journalists in Veracruz 108 5. The repression of journalists in Veracruz 110 5a. Repression is diverse and always around 111 5b. The incrementality of repression 112 5c. The lack of clarity about the identity of the perpetrators of repression 115 6. Conclusions 118 548902-L-bw-Bartman Processed on: 30-9-2020 PDF page: 6 Chapter 6: Boundary-blurring actors in Gujarat 123 1. Introduction 124 2. Federalism, variation in subnational democracy, and subnational power uncertainty in India 125 2a. Variation in subnational democracy in India 126 2b. Subnational power uncertainty in India 127 2c. Subnational power uncertainty: The case of Gujarat 130 3a. Modi’s controversial start as the Chief Minister of Gujarat 131 3b. The communal riots of 2002 132 3c. Boundary-blurring actions and repression during the early aftermath of the riots 136 3d. Complicity in the communal riots 137 3e. Turnover at the centre 141 3f. Pushing the boundaries further 142 3g. The expansion of judicial involvement 145 3h. From subnational power uncertainty to power consolidation 147 4. Conclusions 149 Chapter 7: Conclusions 155 1. Introduction 156 2. Theoretical background of findings 157 3. Continuity and differences across cases 158 3a. Uncertainty vs. punishment 159 3b. The nature of boundary-blurring 160 3c. How were boundary-blurring actors repressed? 162 4. Implications for the literature 166 4a. Boundary-blurring actors and subnational power uncertainty 167 4b. Boundary-blurring actors and repression 170 5. Concluding remarks 171 Bibliography 175 APPENDICES 191 Appendix 1: Binomial test and distribution of time between killings 192 Appendix 2 List of Interview partners 194 Summary 205 Samenvatting 210 548902-L-bw-Bartman Processed on: 30-9-2020 PDF page: 7 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS An advantage of taking a quite a while with your dissertation is that you meet a large number of inspiring people along the road. The list of people I feel thankful towards is extensive. It’s a challenge to put into words how grateful I am to them – at least without further delaying my defense date. So let’s give it a try… Throughout my time as a PhD candidate, I have been in the privileged position of working with people that I deeply admire. I am talking about journalists, activists, political insiders, and others, who shed light on power abuses by subnational political elites in Mexico and India. Often, they did this at the cost of their livelihoods, their freedom, and sometimes their lives. Of course, this dissertation could not have been written without them. But while I am thankful for all the generous help that I received from them, I am even more thankful for the work that they do. You really taught me that it is possible to fight for ideals without compromise. Thank you for making this a hopeful dissertation. The first person I want to specifically thank – and belongs to the above- mentioned category – is Rubén Espinosa. He was a photojournalist from the city Xalapa. I interviewed him about his work, we talked, he took me to demonstrations, he introduced me to his journalist friends, and we talked more. Usually in suburban coffee bars, of which he knew the owners, and the safety. He was murdered shortly after my fieldwork in Mexico. His legacy of speaking truth to power, even in the most precarious circumstances, is very much alive. I also want to thank the other journalist that I met during fieldwork in Veracruz, but who I anonymised in this dissertation, because of the extremely precarious context in which they work. Finally – in the context of Mexico at least – I want to thank my friends Zeltzin Manzano, Gabriel Calavera, and Bery Serrano for making my stay in Mexico enjoyable and interesting even when I was not doing research. Secondly, I want to thank all the people that were crucial during my fieldwork in India. I specifically want to thank Sanjeev Bhatt and Rahul Sharma for openly discussing key political events that happened during their time at the Indian Police Service. Their revelations about the inner workings of the political elite in Gujarat were crucial for this dissertation. I also want to thank all the other people that I interviewed in Gujarat, but who I anonimized for safety reasons. I would like to thank Deviba Wala and Dwhni Shahanand for showing me around in Ahmedabad and making my stay there one of the most interesting periods of my life.