Authoritarian Police in Democracy: Contested Security in Latin America (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics)

In countries around the world, from the United States to the Philippines to Chile, police forces are at the center of social unrest and debates about democracy and rule of law. This book examines the persistence of authoritarian policing in Latin America to explain why police violence and malfeasance remain pervasive decades after democratization. It also examines the conditions under which reform can occur. Drawing on rich comparative analysis and evidence from Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, the book opens up the 'black box' of police bureaucracies to show how police forces exert power and cultivate relationships with politicians, as well as how social inequality impedes change. González shows that authoritarian policing persists not in spite of democracy but in part because of democratic processes and public demand. When societal preferences over the distribution of security and coercion are fragmented along existing social cleavages, politicians possess few incentives to enact reform. In countries around the world, from the United States to the Philippines to Chile, police forces are at the center of social unrest and debates about democracy and rule of law. This book examines the persistence of authoritarian policing in Latin America to explain why police violence and malfeasance remain pervasive decades after democratization. It also examines the conditions under which reform can occur. Drawing on rich comparative analysis and evidence from Brazil, Argentina, and Colombia, the book opens up the 'black box' of police bureaucracies to show how police forces exert power and cultivate relationships with politicians, as well as how social inequality impedes change. Gonza?lez shows that authoritarian policing persists not in spite of democracy but in part because of democratic processes and public demand. When societal preferences over the distribution of security and coercion are fragmented along existing social cleavages, politicians possess few incentives to enact reform Cover 1 Half Title 2 Series Title 3 Title 4 Copyright 5 Contents 6 Figures 7 Tables 8 Acknowledgments 10 1 | Police 14 2 | Ordinary Democratic Politics and the Challenge of Police Reform 40 Part I | Persistence 76 Introduction: The Renewal of Authoritarian Coercion in Democracy 78 3 | The Persistence of “the Police that Kills” 88 4 | The Endurance of the “Damned Police” of Buenos Aires Province 134 5 | Policing in Hard Times 179 Part II | Reform 224 Introduction: Pathways to Democratic Coercion 226 6 | “New Police,” Same as the Old Police 236 7 | The Social and Political Drivers of Reform in Buenos Aires Province and Colombia 267 8 | Conclusion 318 References 341 Index 357 Other Books in the Series (Continued from page ii) - Series page 369 ""I looked [former] President Dilma [Rousseff] in the eyes and told her she is the hope of more than 60,000 'Mothers of May' produced by my country. [But] she should stop celebrating the end of the dictatorship, because we live in a false democracy, a democracy that kills tens, scores, hundreds." Debora Maria da Silva - the mother of a young Black man killed by São Paulo's police in May 2006 and founder of Mães de Maio (Mothers of May), an organization of similarly afflicted mothers - routinely denounces what she calls the "democracy of massacres" (democracia das chacinas) meticulously executed by Brazil's Military Police forces"-- Provided by publisher This book explains the persistence of violent, unaccountable policing in Latin American democracies. It is for scholars, students, educators, policy makers, journalists, advocates, and ordinary citizens who are concerned with the relationship between police and communities, human rights, democracy, and police reform