Coronavirus Puts Criminal Governance at a Crossroads

Did Covid‐19 Change Armed Group Governance? Evidence from a Survey of Local Security Authorities in Colombia

“…Emergencies are thought to create power vacuums that provide armed groups with the opportunity to demonstrate their credibility and legitimacy in comparison to the state (Furlan, 2020; Koehnlein and Koren, 2021). In Rio de Janeiro's favelas, for instance, drug traffickers enforced quarantines and distributed soap and hand sanitiser (Berg and Visori, 2020; Brancoli, 2020). Meanwhile, in Colombia, armed groups threatened violence against those who defied government stay‐at‐home orders (InSight Crime, 2020).…”