The Washington Post’s Nov. 27, 2012 story on Mexico’s drug war quoted CMC’s Roderic Camp, the Philip M. McKenna Professor of the Pacific Rim. The piece, Mexico’s drug war is at a stalemate as Calderon’s presidency ends, quotes Camp–– an expert on the Mexican military–– on page 3 of the online story:
"The military was the only institution with the firepower to confront the drug cartels, but it didn’t have the policing skills, and the police had those skills, but not the firepower,”he said. Read the full story
Camp’s expertise on Mexico includes all aspects of the country’s politics (including elections, violence, leadership changes, public policy, and drug policy). He is also an expert on its Mexican armed forces and the anti-drug cartel strategy; the Mexico/U.S. collaboration on drugs, security, border issues; and the Catholic Church's role in Mexico, human rights, drugs, and politics.
He is the author of: Mexican Political Biographies, 1935-2009 (Fourth Edition, University of Texas Press, 2011); Mexico: What Everyone Needs to Know (Oxford University Press, 2011); and The Metamorphosis of Leadership in a Democratic Mexico (Oxford University Press, 2010)
In 2009, Camp was given an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters by St. Olaf College for his work as a scholar and teacher on Mexico.