Despite recent political movements to establish democratic rule in
Latin American countries, much of the region still suffers from
pervasive violence. From vigilantism, to human rights violations,
to police corruption, violence persists. It is perpetrated by
state-sanctioned armies, guerillas, gangs, drug traffickers, and
local community groups seeking self-protection. The everyday
presence of violence contrasts starkly with governmental efforts to
extend civil, political, and legal rights to all citizens, and it
is invoked as evidence of the failure of Latin American countries
to achieve true democracy. The contributors to this collection take
the more nuanced view that violence is not a social aberration or
the result of institutional failure; instead, it is intimately
linked to the institutions and policies of economic liberalization
and democratization.
The contributors--anthropologists, political scientists,
sociologists, and historians--explore how individuals and
institutions in Latin American democracies, from the rural regions
of Colombia and the Dominican Republic to the urban centers of
Brazil and Mexico, use violence to impose and contest notions of
order, rights, citizenship, and justice. They describe the lived
realities of citizens and reveal the historical foundations of the
violence that Latin America suffers today. One contributor examines
the tightly woven relationship between violent individuals and
state officials in Colombia, while another contextualizes violence
in Rio de Janeiro within the transnational political economy of
drug trafficking. By advancing the discussion of democratic Latin
American regimes beyond the usual binary of success and failure,
this collection suggests more sophisticated ways of understanding
the challenges posed by violence, and of developing new frameworks
for guaranteeing human rights in Latin America.
"Contributors" Enrique Desmond Arias, Javier Auyero, Lilian
Bobea, Diane E. Davis, Robert Gay, Daniel M. Goldstein, Mary
Roldan, Todd Landman, Ruth Stanley, Maria Clemencia Ramirez
General
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