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Analysis of a survey administered in 2006 reveals that colonia residents in Chilapa, Guerrero, Mexico, are more likely to have migrated from rural areas within the city's traditional marketing hinterland than from equally nearby villages that orient their trade to other regional marketplaces. The study suggests that the regional marketing systems, rather than municipal jurisdictions, are the major institutions channeling rural to urban migration in the fieldsite. The article also explores the occupational shifts associated with the transition to life in the urban colonias. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social life in Mexico has long been regulated not by codified jural rules and the institutions of the state but by means of hierarchically structured patronage networks. This article illustrates the pervasiveness of patronage relationships by looking at the activities of a human rights advocacy organization operating in Chilapa, Guerrero. Though ostensibly committed to working through the jural rules and the institutions of the state, practical reality commonly intrudes and forces the organization to activate patronage ties in order to assist their clients. The article also explores the implications of patronage relationships for ongoing debates about the presumed irreconcilability of the state's codified law and the customary law of indigenous communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines the relationship between the Secretaría de Desarrollo Social (SEDESOD and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs) in the Chilapa region of Guerrero, Mexico. I argue that the Mexican state via SEDESOL has effectively harnessed NGOs to perform as regional pillars of neoliberal reform initiatives. The intimacy of this relationship raises serious questions for those who see NGOs performing as vehicles for furthering local or regional "autonomy." Instead, I argue that regional NGOs are key role players in the deepening incorporation of communities into the global industrial economy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]