¿MÁS VALE UN AÑO DE REY QUE VEINTE DE GUËY¿. GIOVANI, VIOLENZA, RECLUTAMENTO CRIMINALE E SOCIETÀ CIVILE IN MESSICO TRA VULNERABILITÀ E RESISTENZA:IL CASO DEL CENTRO JUVENIL PROMOCIÓN INTEGRAL A.C. (CEJUV, A.C.)

The thesis investigates the relationship between youth and violence in contemporary Mexico, a context marked by chronic, structural, and multifaceted forms of violence that particularly affect children and adolescents. In this scenario, the material precarization of life, exclusion from social protection systems, the erosion of rights and citizenship, and processes of stigmatization and criminalization of young people can generate specific forms of vulnerability situated between the status of victims and that of perpetrators of violence, as in the case of the criminal recruitment of minors by organized crime. Alongside these dynamics, however, practices of resistance emerge that create spaces of protection, recognition, and emancipation, opening up possibilities for escaping contexts and experiences shaped by violence. Adopting a qualitative approach, the research analyzes the narratives, practices, and strategies developed by civil associations and organizations engaged in preventing, countering, and transforming the conditions of youth overexposure to violence, while also highlighting the limits and potential of their interventions in highly vulnerable settings. The analysis focuses in particular on a case study – the work of the Centro Juvenil Promoción Integral A.C. (CEJUV A.C.) in Mexico City – through which it seeks to show how the creation of safe spaces, the building of meaningful relationships, and the promotion of opportunities for active participation can serve as central levers for generating concrete alternatives in the lives of the most vulnerable young people.