Crime,StateCapture,Devel:LatAm

1.5 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

Disorganized Crime, State Capture, and Development in Latin America (1.5 cr. – GHD) Professor Christopher Johnson During the last decade, homicide rates in El Salvador, Honduras, and Venezuela place those countries only behind Syria and ahead of Afghanistan and other war-torn countries in terms of the risk of violent death. Moreover, narcotics-related violence in Honduras, Mexico, Jamaica, Colombia, and Brazil have been pervasive threats to the well-being of those populations. In some cases, drug trafficking groups have captured parts of the state and, in more extreme examples, have ascended to the highest political office in the country, as is the case for Honduras. This insecurity has spawned major development challenges, such as mass migration, poverty, institutional decay, underinvestment, and lower life expectancy. In national surveys where homicides are high, violence/security is often cited as the top concern for people migrating out of the country. In Central America, violence costs the GDP on average between 11 and 18 percent, diverting limited resources to security and away from job creation, healthcare, social security, and other social priorities. Yet despite these devastating impacts, criminal violence has traditionally been combated especially be national governments by ‘mano dura’. That is by imprisoning those that are suspected of being perpetrators which often means young poor men. Governments have used the police and also military to suppress violence often through mass imprisonment however this approach has not resulted in dramatic reductions in violence over the long-term. This course is project based but will provide a broad historical overview of the political, economic, and social forces that have allowed gangs and criminal organizations to become integrated into many parts of Latin American and Caribbean societies. The course will use selected countries to provide greater detail as to how these forces have shaped the current trajectories of each country and the varied responses. The course will focus on additional countries that have had innovative responses to addressing gang violence in their country, including gang-mitigation and reinsertion projects as well as adapting traditional development projects in the context of criminal violence. Through project-based work, students will develop a proposal to address the root causes of gang and criminal violence in a Latin American or Caribbean country. The projects developed will draw upon real world examples from the World Bank and other international institutions. Students will present their proposals to World Bank officials who work in security and development in Latin America and the Caribbean for practical feedback.