Criminal Electioneering

• In Event: The Political Economy of Crime and Violence in Latin America

Abstract

When criminal organisations purposefully attempt to influence the outcome democratic elections, they are engaging in what I call criminal electioneering. Despite mounting evidence of the importance of criminal actors in elections around the world, our understanding of criminal electioneering remains very limited. In this paper, I aim to: (1) introduce and refine the concept of criminal electioneering; (2) propose a general framework for the study of criminal electioneering; and (3) outline a road map for future research on this topic. Along the way, I document and compare illustrative examples of criminal electioneering and sketch out a few tentative theoretical propositions. My hope is that the ideas contained in this paper will provide a useful foundation for future research on the nexus between criminal groups and electoral politics.

Author

• Manuel Meléndez-Sánchez, Harvard University