Prohesion

The third chapter, “Prohesion,” delves into the operation of surveillance technologies by locating the Public Registry of Vehicles (REPUVE) within the history of automotive governance in Mexico. The chapter argues that the REPUVE evidences a third historical phase of governing the insecurity of automobility. Discipline was first pursued to increase the safety of road travel by increasing the responsibility of drivers. Risk management later emerged to reduce the environmental harm of automobility by monitoring car emissions. Today, prohesion operates by gaining a hold on the materiality of vehicles in order to achieve “legal certainty.” Through prohesion, the federal government in Mexico attempts to respond to the challenges of globalization by making the material things of society and the administrative agencies of the state “stickier” and more cohesive.