WHEN THE GOVERNMENT CAN’T PERFORM ITS MOST BASIC FUNCTION, WHY STAY IN? Losing Faith in the State, Some Mexican Towns Quietly Break Away. “They are exceptions that prove the rule: Mexico’s crisis manifests as violence, but it is rooted in the corruption and weakness of the state. . . . The central government has declined to reimpose control, the researchers believe, for fear of drawing attention to the town’s lesson that secession brings safety.”

But the situation is suboptimal because only the rich landowners have guns. “For those people, it’s not a burden at all to spend a million or two on weapons.”