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
Latin America is one of the most violent regions in the world. There have not been consistent policies to improve this situation in Latin America, due to lack of proper reform and bad cooperation...Show moreLatin America is one of the most violent regions in the world. There have not been consistent policies to improve this situation in Latin America, due to lack of proper reform and bad cooperation between state institutions. The Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora are a relatively new community policing program that has been implemented in Rio de Janeiro, in order to bring down violence in the favelas. The process of implementation of the UPPs of Santa Marta, Complexo do Alemão and Rocinha will be discussed and evaluated.Show less
Solid waste management is one of the main problems worldwide. Especially in developing countries, different factors such as rapid population growth, migration to urban areas, and lack of financial...Show moreSolid waste management is one of the main problems worldwide. Especially in developing countries, different factors such as rapid population growth, migration to urban areas, and lack of financial resources make difficult to implement an efficient system of collection. Waste–pickers have an important role in the solid waste management but they normally work under hazardous and precarious conditions. In Brazil, in particular, although most of scavengers work informally, there are also many formal cooperatives of waste pickers that collaborate each other and contribute significantly to clean the cities and reduce the volume of solid waste destined to the dumps. Nevertheless, solid waste management is still a complex issue in the country and there is still a lot do in order to integrate waste–pickers within the society and in the waste management system. This study analyzes the social impact of waste–pickers’ cooperatives in the cities of Rio de Janeiro and Duque de Caxias, using data collected in five cooperatives during five weeks fieldwork research.Show less
