Violence and Globalization in Latin America

Abstract

Since the 1980s, Latin America has experienced unprecedented violence, which expresses itself in a major increase in homicide rates. After exploring different forms of violence and discussing the impoverishment which affects the region, the authors suggest that the spread of violence and crime is influenced by forces of global and local transformation which cause that violence to transcend national boundaries while reflecting the particular characteristics of each locality's culture and social organization. Through an analysis of five related processes: (1) changes in the drug economy; (2) proliferation of firearms; (3) similarity of cultural patterns of violence; (4) generalized fear among the population; and (5) citizen support for retaliation and extralegal violence (the latter in dangerous rapid expansion), the authors conclude by asserting that the appropriation of violence and its implacable logic of escalation can only lead to reciprocal annihilation. The strengthening of the state and the restoration of the rule of law comprise the necessary alternative for defending people's integrity and regaining freedom in the city.

Acculturation and Drug Use Stigma Among Latinos and African Americans: An Examination of a Church-Based Sample

“…Drug addiction may be viewed as individual behavior that requires substantial economic resources and thus may threaten the emotional and economic commitment immigrants have made to their families in their countries of origin – resulting in attitudes that depict drug addiction as particularly odious. Yet another unexplored aspect of the Latino immigrant ethos as it relates to drug addiction stigma is the historical and political particulars that have shaped the drug trade and drug trafficking in Latin America (53, 54). In particular, the escalating violence associated with the rise of the drug trade in many Latin American countries may fundamentally shape more recent immigrant Latinos’ attitudes towards drug addiction.…”

Drugs Around the Corner: Domestic Drug Markets and Violence in Colombia and Mexico

“…Studies analyzing violence in Latin America, although they recognize its complex causes, tend to identify a direct connection between growth in drug trafficking and growth in violence, or lack systematic explanations for variation in drug violence (Briceño-León and Zubillaga 2002;Koonings and Kruijt 2007, 16). This is also the case in the few studies that analyze recent changes in domestic drug markets (Llorente and McDermott 2014).…”

Contributions of Behavioral Systems Science to Leadership for a New Progressive Movement

“…Indeed, support for economic globalization has weakened a substantial number of governments worldwide, worsening already severe living conditions and contributing to radicalization, violent unrest, and civil wars (Briceño-León and Zubillaga 2002;Conteh-Morgan 2006;Lindner 2009). Unfortunately, such violent campaigns for liberation often ultimately reproduce the oppression they sought to eradicate (Chenoweth and Stephan 2011;Mattaini 2013).…”