Violence and Resilience in Latin American Cities

Violence and Resilience in Latin American Cities PDF

Author: Kees Koonings

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2015-11-15

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13: 1780324596

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Why are Latin American cities amongst the most violent in the world? Over the past decades Latin America has not only become the most urbanised of the regions of the so-called global South, it has also been the scene of the urbanisation of poverty and exclusion. Overall regional homicides rates are the highest in the world, a fact closely related to the spread and use of firearms by male youths, who are frequently involved in local and translocal forms of organised crime. In response, governments and law enforcements agencies have been facing mounting pressure to address violence through repressive strategies, which in turn has led to a number of consequences: law enforcement is often based on excessive violence and the victimisation of entire marginal populations. Thus, the dynamics of violence have generated a widespread perception of insecurity and fear. Featuring much original fieldwork across a broad array of case studies, this cutting edge volume focuses on questions not only of crime, insecurity and violence but also of Latin American cities’ ability to respond to these problems in creative and productive ways.

Urban Violence, Resilience and Security

Urban Violence, Resilience and Security PDF

Author: Michael R. Glass

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2022-01-28

Total Pages: 208

ISBN-13: 9781800379725

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Written in a comprehensive yet accessible style, Urban Violence, Resilience and Security investigates the diverse nature of urban violence within Latin America, Asia and Africa. It further analyzes how regular and irregular governing mechanisms can provide human security, despite the presence of chronic violence. The empirically rich and conceptually grounded contributions of established and emerging scholars evaluate the current state and future trajectory of urban development. They also question common explanations of the drivers of violence in urban areas and also provide measured recommendations for improved policy and future governance. Chapters thoroughly examine the opportunities and hazards of focusing on resilience as the only method to improve security and identify governance and policy practices that can move beyond the rhetoric of resilience to evaluate diverse approaches to attaining human security in urban areas of the Global South. This invigorating book will be an excellent resource for academic researchers interested in urban dynamics in the Global South as well as scholars embarking on geography, human security, political science and policy studies. Based on a set of original case studies, policymakers will also benefit from the questions and challenges to the conventional approaches to urban planning and governance that it raises.

Fractured Cities

Fractured Cities PDF

Author: Dirk Kruijt

Publisher: Zed Books Ltd.

Published: 2013-04-04

Total Pages: 133

ISBN-13: 1848136749

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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.

Citizens of Fear

Citizens of Fear PDF

Author: Katherine Goldman

Publisher: Rutgers University Press

Published: 2002

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780813530352

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Citizens in Latin American cities live in constant fear, amidst some of the most dangerous conditions on earth. In that vast region, 140 thousand people die violently each year, and one out of three citizens have been directly or indirectly victimized by violence. Citizens of Fear, in part, assembles survey results of social scientists who document the pervasiveness of violence. But the numbers tell only part of the story.

The Urban Poor in Latin America

The Urban Poor in Latin America PDF

Author: Marianne Fay

Publisher: World Bank Publications

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 284

ISBN-13: 9780821360699

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About half of the region's poor live in cities, and policy makers across Latin America are increasingly interested in policy advice on how to design programmes and policies to tackle poverty. This publication argues that the causes of poverty, the nature of deprivation, and the policy levers to fight poverty are, to a large extent, site specific. It therefore focuses on strategies to assist the urban poor in making the most of the opportunities offered by cities, such as larger labour markets and better services, while helping them cope with the negative aspects, such as higher housing costs, pollution, risk of crime and less social capital.

The Politics of Violence in Latin America

The Politics of Violence in Latin America PDF

Author: Pablo Policzer

Publisher: Latin American and Caribbean S

Published: 2019-07-15

Total Pages: 311

ISBN-13: 9781552389065

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Latin America is one of the most violent regions in the world. It has suffered waves of repressive authoritarian rule, organized armed insurgency and civil war, violent protest, and ballooning rates of criminal violence. But is violence hard wired into Latin America? This is a critical reassessment of the ways in which violence in Latin America is addressed and understood. Previous approaches have relied on structural perspectives, attributing the problem of violence to Latin America's colonial past or its conflictual contemporary politics. Bringing together scholars and practitioners, this volume argues that violence is often rooted more in contingent outcomes than in deeply embedded structures. Addressing topics ranging from the root sources of violence in Haiti to kidnapping in Colombia, from the role of property rights in patterns of violence to the challenges of peacebuilding, The Politics of Violence in Latin America is an essential step towards understanding the causes and contexts of violence-and changing the mechanisms that produce it.

Urban Violence, Resilience and Security

Urban Violence, Resilience and Security PDF

Author: Glass, Michael R.

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

Published: 2022-01-13

Total Pages: 224

ISBN-13: 1800379730

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Written in a comprehensive yet accessible style, Urban Violence, Resilience and Security investigates the diverse nature of urban violence within Latin America, Asia and Africa. It further analyzes how regular and irregular governing mechanisms can provide human security, despite the presence of chronic violence.

The Punitive City

The Punitive City PDF

Author: Markus-Michael Müller

Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing

Published: 2016-06-15

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1783606983

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In the eyes of the global media, modern Mexico has become synonymous with crime, violence and insecurity. But while media fascination and academic engagement has focussed on the drug war, an equally dangerous phenomenon has taken root. In The Punitive City, Markus-Michael Müller argues that what has emerged in Mexico is not just a punitive urban democracy, in which those at the social and political margins face growing violence and exclusion. More alarmingly, it would seem that clientelism in the region is morphing into a private, political protection racket. Vital reading for anyone seeking to understand the implications of a phenomenon that is becoming increasingly widespread across Latin America.

Gun Violence and Prevention - Connections, Cultures, and Consequences

Gun Violence and Prevention - Connections, Cultures, and Consequences PDF

Author: Jack Eller

Publisher: BoD – Books on Demand

Published: 2024-06-05

Total Pages: 142

ISBN-13: 1837694079

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People are dying or suffering all over the world from the plague of gun violence, and countries and entire regions are reeling from the damage, instability, and insecurity that gun violence causes. Taking a global perspective on the problem, and identifying correlates such as drug trafficking, gun trafficking, state failure, ethnic and political conflict, terrorism and war, and the consequent rise of personal fear and insecurity leading to more citizens arming themselves or hiring armed security forces, the chapters in this volume look far beyond the United States, which monopolizes public and scholarly attention, to include India, Latin America and the Caribbean, and Africa. The chapters explore and compare histories of, causes of, correlates of, and responses to gun violence across this broad region, predominantly in the Global South, identifying commonalities and differences in the character, incidence, and attempted prevention of gun violence. The volume aims to inform readers about gun violence in these often-overlooked places and to encourage intensified quantitative and qualitative research into the geographical and historical diversity of such violence and the steps taken by various countries to curb it. Only with a cross-cultural and transhistorical perspective can we hope to lower the personal and social cost that gun violence inflicts on populations around the globe.

Cities for Life

Cities for Life PDF

Author: Jason Corburn

Publisher: Island Press

Published: 2021-11-16

Total Pages: 290

ISBN-13: 1642831727

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In cities around the world, planning and health experts are beginning to understand the role of social and environmental conditions that lead to trauma. By respecting the lived experience of those who were most impacted by harms, some cities have developed innovative solutions for urban trauma. In Cities for Life, public health expert Jason Corburn shares lessons from three of these cities: Richmond, California; Medellín, Colombia; and Nairobi, Kenya. Corburn draws from his work with citizens, activists, and decision-makers in these cities over a ten-year period, as individuals and communities worked to heal from trauma--including from gun violence, housing and food insecurity, poverty, and other harms. Cities for Life is about a new way forward with urban communities that rebuilds our social institutions, practices, and policies to be more focused on healing and health.