A New Typology of Political Positions on Public Security: Evidence from Brazil

• In Event: The Politics of Public Security in Latin America

Abstract

Proposed public security policy measures are typically considered to be of two types: iron-fist, tough-on-crime strategies, or socially-oriented, preventative solutions. These are seen as opposing approaches, with more conservative politicians and citizens preferring the former, while progressives favor the latter. Focusing on Brazil, I argue that this dichotomy is an oversimplification. Analyzing the text of over 500 official gubernatorial platforms (2010-2022) and via 7 months of fieldwork, including over 100 elite interviews, I break down public security policy proposals and develop a new typology. I demonstrate that proposals typically fall into one of four categories: repression of crime, prevention of crime, protection of human rights, and police reform. I then show that the degree to which politicians focus on each category is weakly predicted by ideology, with the exception of human rights protections. Finally, I provide a brief explanation of a non-ideological factor that helps to explain public security policy proposals: the presence and influence of law enforcement politicians.

Author

• Isabel Laterzo-Tingley, University of Texas, Austin