The Politics of Public Security in Latin America

Session Submission Type: Full Paper Panel

Session Description

This panel explores the interactions between violence, crime, and politics in Latin America. Covering multiple country contexts in the region, the papers draw on a diverse set of quantitative and qualitative methodologies and utilize original databases, surveys, rich sources of administrative data, and fieldwork. In all, this work answers important questions relevant to both institutional and behavioral approaches to comparative politics.

Two of the papers examine the ways in which individual political actors act with respect to crime and violence. Visconti & Dalton explore how female mayors in Chile may have particularly strong effects on reducing crime in the municipalities they serve. Drawing on rich administrative data, they also explore how this effect varies across different types of victim groups. Laterzo, in turn, examines how politicians campaign on public security. Building on original data from Brazil, she demonstrates that a multidimensional concept of public security better captures politicians’ proposals compared to past unidimensional, tough-on-crime-oriented concepts.

Our third paper examines when politicians themselves are victims of extreme violence. Carvalho examines political assassinations in Brazil and shows that corruption is a key causal determinant in understanding when politicians may kill one another. Finally, our fourth paper examines how political actors can help increase trust in public security service delivery among citizens. In Colombia, Weintraub et al. examine how retraining police officers and increasing their contact with citizens can engender more trust in this key institution.

Sub Unit

• Division 12: Comparative Politics of Developing Countries

Individual Presentations

• The Political Economy of Assassinations - Mariana Carvalho, Brown University

• Do Women Mayors Reduce Crime? Evidence from Chile - Giancarlo Visconti, University of Maryland, College Park; Maya Dalton, Pennsylvania State University

• Building Trust in State Actors: A Multi-Site RCT with Colombia’s National Police - Michael Lee Weintraub, Universidad de los Andes; Santiago Tobon, Universidad EAFIT

• A New Typology of Political Positions on Public Security: Evidence from Brazil - Isabel Laterzo-Tingley, University of Texas, Austin

Chair

• Dorothy Kronick University of California, Berkeley

Discussant

• Edgar Franco Vivanco University of Michigan