Violent Democracies in Latin America

Enrique Desmond Arias, Daniel M. Goldstein, Enrique Desmond Arias, Daniel M. Goldstein, Neil L. Whitehead, Jo Ellen Fair, Leigh A. Payne

• Publisher: Duke University Press Books
• Year: 2010
• Print ISBN: 9780822346388, 9780822346241
• eBook ISBN: 9780822392033
• Topic: History
• Subtopic: Latin American & Caribbean History
• Index: History

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 Roldán, Todd Landman, Ruth Stanley, María Clemencia Ramírez

Table of contents

• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• Violent Pluralism: Understanding the New Democracies of Latin America / Enrique Desmond Arias and Daniel M. Goldstein
• The Political and Economic Origins of Violence and Insecurity in Contemporary Latin America: Past Trajectories and Future Prospects / Diane E. Davis
• End of Discussion: Violence, Participatory Democracy, and the Limits of Dissent in Colombia / Mary Roldán
• Maintaining Democracy in Colombia through Political Exclusion, States of Exception, Counterinsurgency, and Dirty War / María Clemencia Ramírez
• Clandestine Connections: The Political and Relational Makings of Collective Violence / Javier Auyero
• "Living in a Jungle": State Violence and Perceptions of Democracy in Buenos Aires / Ruth Stanley
• Organized Violence, Disorganized State / Lilian Bobea
• Toward Uncivil Society: Causes and Consequences of Violence in Rio de Janeiro / Robert Gay
• Violence, Democracy, and Human Rights in Latin America / Todd Landman
• Conclusion: Understanding Violent Pluralism / Enrique Desmond Arias
• References
• Contributors
• Index