Public security in the city of Rio de Janeiro has been characterized by military intervention in an attempt to contain urban violence and recently, this military intervention model has been...Show morePublic security in the city of Rio de Janeiro has been characterized by military intervention in an attempt to contain urban violence and recently, this military intervention model has been proposed to address urban violence in other Brazilian cities, Latin American countries and in the United States (Hoelscher, Norheim-Martinsen 2014, 957)(Fenizola 2018.) To compliment research in the academic field of violence in conflict areas, this paper aims to explore to what extent the potential relation between educational opportunities and violence can enforce or debilitate conflict in the case of Rio de Janeiro's favelas. To analyse this, an innovative theoretical framework is used that combines insights from fhi360's research on the causal relation between educational opportunities and violent conflict, critical race/post colonial theory, John Galtung's Conflict triangle and sustainable peace. Through a multidisciplinary approach and qualitative data analysis, the findings reveal that underlying the visible direct and structural violence shaping public security, is the mechanism of cultural violence that works to justify the direct and structural expressions of violence and indirectly, the militarization of public security. In regards to education, this entail that marginalized youth generally end up in a negative spiral of exclusion that enforces pacification, repression, more violence and eventually less educational opportunities. In response to this model, the paper proposes a method that can reverse the causal cycle of violent conflict and educational opportunities so that sustainable peace may be achieved.Show less
Contemporary violence in Mexico has moved beyond the state, making it harder to find solutions to the ever-growing number of homicides country the country. Public security in Mexico is now...Show moreContemporary violence in Mexico has moved beyond the state, making it harder to find solutions to the ever-growing number of homicides country the country. Public security in Mexico is now identified as having three particular problems: it is seen as illegitimate, infused with impunity, and distrusted by citizens. Altogether, this has instigated citizens to find a way to protect themselves from the rising violence without having to turn to the state; private security. Private military and security companies have boomed exactly within the time frame in which Mexico was quickly trying to adapt to a more democratic rule. Having to deal with this many changes within a short time frame, regulations for PMSCs have fallen short and thus created an informal market. Policing the private security market has failed, creating the opportunity for corruption: impunity prevails.Show less
This thesis will analyse the influence Mexican DTOs have on the Guatemalan state and local life. In specific, it will look at the presence of the Sinaloa cartel and Los Zetas in Guatemala’s coastal...Show moreThis thesis will analyse the influence Mexican DTOs have on the Guatemalan state and local life. In specific, it will look at the presence of the Sinaloa cartel and Los Zetas in Guatemala’s coastal and border provinces from the year 2000 onwards, and investigate how the fall of the Mexican PRI possibly contributed to the upsurge of these DTOs in Guatemala. It shall centre on the central question of how the Sinaloa cartel and Los Zetas are disintegrating the Guatemalan state and affecting public security, and how the collapse of the Mexican PRI played a role in this. In order to answer this central issue, this thesis will be separated into three chapters, together arguing that the DTOs are placing an immense threat on Guatemala’s public security and the state. Additionally, it will be argued that the collapse of the PRI contributed to this issue by causing uncontrolled competition between the DTOs after they gave up their hegemonic position within Mexico’s political system. Chapter one shall focus on the theoretical background surrounding this topic, expanding on three central concepts guiding this thesis: transnational organised crime, the state, and public security. Chapter two is where the historical-political context of the problematic issue is elaborated upon, analysing how both Mexican and Guatemalan national occurrences are factors contributing to the threat the Guatemalan state is facing now (O’Neil; Schirmer). Here, it shall also be shown that it is not only the presence of the Mexican cartels that are disintegrating the Guatemalan state; there are other factors, coming from within Guatemala’s national history, that are an influence on the weakening of the state (Molina Mejía). Lastly, chapter three is the chapter in which the Sinaloa cartel and Los Zetas are analysed in the context of Guatemala’s border and coastal provinces, investigating the effect these groups have had on the state and local life from 2000 onwards (Dudley; Pérez).Show less
