Authoritarian Police in Democracy - Contested Security in Latin America

Explains the persistence of violent, unaccountable policing in democratic contexts.

List of contents

1. Police: authoritarian enclaves in democratic states; 2. Ordinary democratic politics and the challenge of police reform; Part I. Persistence: 3. Institutional persistence in São Paulo state: authoritarian policing by democratic demand; 4. The endurance of the 'damned police' in Buenos Aires province; 5. Policing in hard times: drug war, institutional decay, and the persistence of authoritarian coercion in Colombia; Part II. Reform: 6. 'New police', same as the old police: barriers to reform in São Paulo state; 7. The social and political drivers of reform in Buenos Aires province and Colombia; 8. Conclusion: inequality and the dissonance of policing and democracy.

About the author

Yanilda María González is Assistant Professor of Public Policy at Harvard Kennedy School. She holds a Ph.D. in Politics and Social Policy from Princeton University and was a postdoctoral fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at Harvard Kennedy School.

Summary

This book explains the persistence of violent, unaccountable policing in Latin American democracies. It is for scholars, students, educators, policy makers, journalists, advocates, and ordinary citizens who are concerned with the relationship between police and communities, human rights, democracy, and police reform.

Additional text

'Authoritarian Police in Democracy is a breakthrough book for any scholar interested in policing, security, violence, and democratic politics. González develops an original and compelling theory of authoritarian coercion in democratic regimes and traces the political challenges to police reform in three highly impressive case studies. In doing so, she powerfully illustrates how and why the distribution of repression and protection by police often reproduces social stratification, but also explains the conditions under which reform can and does occur. An extraordinary accomplishment.' Lisa L. Miller, Rutgers University

Product details

• Authors: Yanilda Maria (Harvard University Gonzalez, Yanilda María González
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press ELT
• Languages: English
• Product format: Hardback
• Released: 31.12.2020
• EAN: 9781108830393
• ISBN: 978-1-108-83039-3
• No. of pages: 250
• Series: Cambridge Studies in Comparati; Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics
• Subjects: Social sciences, law, business > Political science > Political science and political education; Sociology, Latin America, Brazil, Human Rights, Colombia, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Human Rights, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Sociology / General, SOCIAL SCIENCE / Criminology, POLITICAL SCIENCE / History & Theory, POLITICAL SCIENCE / World / Caribbean & Latin American, POLITICAL SCIENCE / Civil Rights, Politics & government, Political science & theory, Politics and government, Latin America – Mexico, Central America, South America, Political science and theory, Civil rights & citizenship, Crime and criminology, Crime & criminology, Human rights, civil rights