Societies of Fear

As cities sprawl across Latin America, absorbing more and more of its people, crime and violence have become inescapable.

From the paramilitary invasion of Medell¡n in Colombia, the booming wealth of crack dealers in Managua, Nicaragua and police corruption in Mexico City, to the glimmers of hope in Lima, this book provides a dynamic analysis of urban insecurity. Based on new empirical evidence, interviews with local people and historical contextualization, the authors attempts to shed light on the fault-lines which have appeared in Latin American society.

Neoliberal economic policy, it is argued, has intensified the gulf between elites, insulated in gated estates monitored by private security firms, and the poor, who are increasingly mistrustful of state-sponsored attempts to impose order on their slums. Rather than the current trend towards government withdrawal, the situation can only be improved by co-operation between communities and police to build new networks of trust. In the end, violence and insecurity are inseparable from social justice and democracy.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
About the Authors

Introduction: The Duality of Latin American Cityscapes
Kees Koonings and Dirk Kruijt

Chapter 1:
Fractured Cities, Second-Class Citizenship, and Urban Violence
Kees Koonings and Dirk Kruijt


Chapter 2:
Rio de Janeiro
Elizabeth Leeds


Chapter 3:
Mexico City
Wil Pansters and Hector Castillo Berthier

Chapter 4:
Medell¡n
Ralph Rozema



Chapter 5:
Managua
Dennis Rodgers


Chapter 6:
Caracas
Roberto Brice¤o-Le¢n


Chapter 7:
Lima Metropolitana
Carlos Iv n Degregori and Dirk Kruijt


Chapter 8:
Living in Fear: How the Urban Poor Perceive Violence, Fear and Insecurity
Cathy McIlwaine and Caroline O.N. Moser


Epilogue: Latin America's Urban Duality Revisited
Dirk Kruijt and Kees Koonings

Bibliography

Index

About the Authors:

Kees Koonings is Associate Professor of Development Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University. He is the author of books and articles on development issues, ethnicity, and militarism and violence in Latin America.

Dirk Kruijt is Professor of Development Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences, Utrecht University. He has published on poverty and the informal sector, military governments, and issues of war and peace in Latin America.

They are co-editors of three previous Zed Books titles:

Societies of Fear: The Legacy of Civil War, Violence and Terror in Latin America (1999)

Political Armies: The Military and Nation Building in the Age of Democracy (2002)

Armed Actors: Organized Violence and State Failure in Latin America (2004)