The Politics of Control and Resistance in Violent Contexts

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

In violent contexts citizens must figure out how to confront injustice and powerful actors under conditions that are often highly uncertain and fast-changing. The four papers in this panel discuss the strategies of citizens, states, and non-state actors to enact or respond to violence in Latin America, one of the most dangerous regions in the world. The first two papers focus on violent actors’ efforts to establish recognition and political order. Albarracín and co-authors examine how violence against social movement leaders in three regions of post-conflict Colombia results from two distinct pathways: collusion between local state and non-state armed actors to create local political orders or competition between these actors for local hegemony. Next, Johnson analyzes written communication by organized crime in Mexico to assess the strategic benefits of public messaging and the creation of criminal identities or brands, distinct from notions of legitimacy or positive reputation. The following two papers examine citizen responses to violence in areas affected by high crime and weak rule of law. Barnes argues that anonymous denunciation of criminal groups by citizens is highly strategic in nature. Residents of Rio de Janeiro’s favelas use these denunciations to try and control violence and punish criminals within low security environments. He develops a theory of denunciation that revolves around two dynamics related to the territorial control of organized criminal groups: violent competition with rivals and police enforcement. Drawing on qualitative and quantitative text analysis of in-depth interviews from Western Mexico, Baron and co-authors argue that when individuals are exposed to violence their deontological desire to perpetrators can outweigh their utilitarian motives to see violence reduced, and thus lead them to support harsh punishments, including vigilante justice. All four of these papers rely on evidence gathered from extensive fieldwork in the region.

Sub Unit

• Division 12: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries

Individual Presentations

• Local Political Orders and Political Violence in Post-Conflict Colombia - Juan Albarracin Dierolf, University of Notre Dame; Juan Pablo MIlanese, Universidad Icesi

• Narcommunication: The Marketing and Messaging of Organized Crime - Philip Luke Johnson, Princeton University

• Resident Resistance: The Territorial Logic of Denouncing Organized Crime - Nicholas Barnes, University of st Andrews

• Harsh Justice: Explaining Support for Retribution and Vigilantism in Mexico - Hannah Baron, Brown University; Omar Garcia-Ponce, George Washington University; Lauren E Young, University of California, Davis; Thomas Zeitzoff, American University

Chair

• Eduardo Moncada Barnard College, Columbia University

Discussants

• Abby B. Cordova University of Notre Dame

• Lucia Tiscornia Centro de Investigacion y Docencia Economicas