The dynamics of criminal governance: Networks and social order in Rio de Janeiro

Journal of Latin American Studies

Volumn 38, Issue 2, 2006, Pages 293-325

  Arias, Enrique Desmond ^a  

^a JOHN JAY COLLEGE OF CRIMINAL JUSTICE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

CRIME; POLITICAL SYSTEM; SOCIAL NETWORK; VIOLENCE;

BRAZIL; RIO DE JANEIRO [BRAZIL]; SOUTH AMERICA;

EID: 33747710714     PISSN: 0022216X     EISSN: 1469767X     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1017/S0022216X06000721     Document Type: Article

References (194)

1. On business closings see R. Penglase, 'The Shutdown of Rio de Janeiro: The Poetics of Drug Trafficker Violence,' Anthropology Today, vol. 21, no. 5 (2005, p. 3.
2. Especially see Antônio Werneck, Elenilce Botari, and Gustavo Paiva Goulart, 'Beira-Mar negocia até míssil,' O Globo, 19 June 2002, p. 14
3. Vera Araújo, 'As novas granadas do tráfico,' O Globo, 9 June 2002, p. 17
4. Vera Araújo, 'Favelas proibidas aos PMs,' O Globo, 23 June 2002, p. 20
5. Roberto Kant, 'As favelas passaram de refúgios a feudos (Interview),' O Globo, p. 18
6. Marcos F. Moracs, 7 'A nação invadida,' O Globo, 14 June 2002, p. 7
7. Zuenir Ventura, 'O risco da 'Colombina,' O Globo, 22 June 2002, p. Sec. B 12
8. Ignácio Cano, 'O Estado nunca esteve presente,' O Globo, 23 June 2002, p. 23
9. Costa, 19; Maria Velez de Berliner and Kristin Lado, 'Brazil: Emerging Drug Superpower,' in Transnational Organized Crime, vol. 1, no. 2 (Summer), 1995, pp. 239-60
10. For a good synopsis of this perspective see Francisco Alves Filho and Marcos Pernambuco, 'No Front Inimigo,' Istoé (São Paulo), 19 June 2002, pp. 24-37. The cover of this edition of Istoé carries a picture of a young masked man with no shirt on carrying a shotgun with a presidential sash in green and yellow hanging across his chest.
11. Elizabeth Leeds, 'Cocaine and Parallel Polities on the Brazilian Urban Periphery: Constraints on Local Level Democratization,' Latin American Research Review, vol. 31, no. 3 (1996)
12. A. Zaluar, A maquina e a revolta (São Paulo, 1985), pp. 230-56
13. M. Alvito, As Cores de Acarí: Uma favela carioca (Rio de Janeiro, 2001), pp. 149-54, 160-4
14. also see Clara Mafra, 'Drogas e símbolos: Redes de solidariedade em contexto de violência,' in Alba Zaluar and Marcos Alvito (eds.), Um século de favela (Rio de Janeiro, 1998), pp. 287, 295.
15. Guillermo O'Donnell, 'On the State, Democratization, and Some Conceptual Problems: A Latin American View with Glances at Some Postcommunist Countries,' in World Development, vol. 21, no. 8 (1993), p. 1361, 1364
16. see also Felipe Aguero, 'Conflicting Assessments of Democratization: Exploring the Fault Lines,' in Felipe Aguero and Jeffrey Stark (eds.), Fault Lines of Democracy in Post-Transition Latin America (Coral Gables, 1998), p.6.
17. Juan E. Méndez, 'Problems of Lawless Violence: Introduction,' in Juan E. Méndez, Guillermo O'Donnell and Paulo Sérgio Pinheiro (eds.), The (Un)Rule of Law and the Underprivileged in Latin America (South Bend, 1999), pp. 20-4
18. Jorge Zaverucha, 'Military Justice in the State of Pernambuco after the Brazilian Military Regime: An Authoritarian Legacy,' Latin American Research Review, vol. 34, no. 2 (1999), pp. 43, 70-72
19. Hugo Fruhling, 'Judicial Reform and Democratization in Latin America,' in Aguero and Stark (eds.), Fault Lines of Democracy in Post-Transition Latin America, pp. 237-8, 254-5.
20. Méndez, O'Donnell and Pinheiro (eds.), The (Un)Rule of Law; Hugo Fruhling and Joseph Tulchin, Crime and Violence in Latin America: Citizen Security, Democracy, and the State (Washington, DC, 2003)
21. and Susana Rotker (ed.), Citizens of Fear: Urban Violence in Latin America (New Brunswick, 2002).
22. D. Goldstein, Laughter Out of Place: Race, Class, Violence, and Sexuality in a Rio Shantytown, (Berkeley, 2003), p. 200.
23. Goldstein, Laughter Out of Place, p. 211.
24. Diane Davis, 'Contemporary Challenges and Historical Reflections on the Study of Militaries, States, and Politics,' in Diane Davis and Anthony Pereira (eds.), Irregular Armed Forces and the Role in Politics and State Formation (Cambridge, 2003), pp. 5-6
25. Anthony Pereira, 'Armed Forces, Coercive Monopolies, and Changing Patterns of State Formation and Violence,' in Davis and Pereira (eds.), Irregular Armed Forces, pp. 387-90.
26. On Colombia see Mauricio Romero, 'Reform and Reaction: Paramilitary Groups in Contemporary Colombia,' in Davis and Pereira (eds.), Irregular Armed Forces, pp. 178-80, 202-5.
27. T. Caldeira, City of Walls: Crime, Segregation, and Citizenship in São Paulo (Berkeley, 2000), pp. 78-82, 256-335.
28. L. Payne, Uncivil Movements: The Armed Right Wing and Democracy in Latin America (Baltimore, 2000), pp. 1, 46.
29. Martha Huggins, 'Urban Violence and Police Privatization in Brazil: Blended Invisibility,' Social Justice, vol. 27, no. 2 (2000): Pp. 123-6
30. Martha Huggins, 'From Bureaucratic Consolidation to Structural Devolution: Police Death Squads in Brazil,' Policing and Society, 7 (1997), pp. 213, 225-6.
31. On the 'divided city' thesis see Zuenir Ventura, 'O risco da 'Colombina,' O Globo, 22 June 2002, p. B 12
32. Z. Ventura, Cidade partida (Rio de Janeiro, 1994)
33. L. E. Soares, Meu casaco de general: Quinentos dias no front da segurança pública do Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 2000, pp. 11-14, 264-8, 274
34. Rubem César Fernandes and José Augusto de Souza Rodrigues, 'Viva Rio: Sociedade civil e segurança no Rio de Janeiro,' unpubl. paper presented Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (Washington, DC), 1995, pp. 11-12
35. on drug trafficking and clientelism see Leeds, 'Cocaine and Parallel Polities'; Zaluar, A maquina e a revolta, pp. 230-56, esp. 240
36. Alvito, As cores de Acarí, pp. 149-54, 160-4
37. Marcelo Baumann Burgos, 'Dos parques proletários ao Favela-Bairro: As políticas públicas nas favelas do Rio de Janeiro,' in Zaluar and Alvito (eds.), Um século de favela, pp. 34-45.
38. See J. Perlman, The Myth of Marginality: Urban Poverty and Politics in Rio de Janeiro (Berkeley, 1976), pp. 1-3, 12-17
39. Burgos, 'Dos parques proletários ao Favela-Bairro,' pp. 35-43.
40. Leeds, 'Cocaine and Parallel Polities,' p. 50; the title of Leeds' article, referring to 'parallel polities' does appear to suggest a sympathy with the 'divided city' approach but, when the argument is examined in detail its reliance on interconnection and clientelism are apparent.
41. Frances Hagopian, 'Democracy and Political Representation in Latin America in the 1990s: Pause, Reorganization, or Decline,' in Aguero and Stark (eds.), Fault Lines of Democracy, pp. 100-2, 109-9, 126-8
42. on Rio see R. Fernandes, Private but Public: The Third Sector in Latin America (Washington, DC, 1994), pp. 25-29, 104-7.
43. Leeds, 'Cocaine and Parallel Polities,' pp. 73-6.
44. Ibid., pp. 59-61-63-78
45. a similar argument is also found in Amanda Sives, 'Changing Patrons, from Politician to Drug Don: Clientelism in Downtown Kingston, Jamaica,' Latin American Perspectives, vol. 29, no. 126 (2002).
46. Martha Huggins, Political Policing: The United States and Latin America (Durham, NC, 1998), pp. 201-3
47. on urban neighbourhoods and private security see Teresa Caldeira, 'Fortified Enclaves: The New Urban Segregation,' in James Holston (ed.), Cities and Citizenship (Durham, NC, 1999), pp. 115, 119, 124-5.
48. Charles Tilly, 'War Making and State Making as Organized Crime,' in Peter Evans, Dietrich Rueschmeyer, and Theda Skocpol (eds.), Bringing the State Back In (Cambridge, 1985), pp. 170-1
49. Clifford Shearing, 'Reinventing Policing: Policing as Governance,' in Otwin Marenin (ed.), Policing Change, Changing Police: International Perspectives (New York, 1996), pp. 285-7
50. Victoria Malkin, 'Narcotrafficking, Migration, and Modernity in Rural Mexico,' Latin American Perspectives, vol. 28, no. 4 (2001), p. 101.
51. On this practice among some traffickers in one favela, see Alvito, As cores de Acarí, pp. 140-57.
52. Quote from M. Keck and K. Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders: Advocacy Networks in International Politics (Ithaca, NY, 1998), p. 8.
53. Walter Powell and Laurel Smith Doerr, 'Networks and Economic Life,' in N. J. Smelser and Richard Swedberg (eds.), The Handbook of Economic Sociology (Princeton and New York, 1994), p. 323
54. Keck and Sikkink, Activists Beyond Borders, pp. 8-9
55. James Boissevain, Friends of Friends: Networks Manipulators and Coalitions (Oxford, 1974), pp. 24-8, 181-6.
56. On the role of network connections in creating trust see Mark Granovetter, 'The Strength of Weak Ties: A Network Theory Revisited,' in Sociological Theory, 1983, pp. 212-3
57. Vincente Espinoza, 'Networks of Informal Economy: Work and Community among Santiago's Urban Poor,' unpubl. PhD diss., University of Toronto, 1992, p. 52
58. on types of network ties also see R. Putnam, Bowling Alone: The Collapse and Revival of American Community (New York, 2000), pp. 22-23.
59. Rosabeth Moss Kanter, 'The Future of Bureaucracy and Hierarchy in Organizational Theory: A Report from the Field,' in Pierre Bourdieu and John Coleman (eds.), Social Theory for a Changing Society (Boulder, 1991), pp. 63-87.
60. Joel M. Podolny and Karen L. Page, 'Network Forms of Organization,' in Annual Review of Sociology, vol. 24 (1998), pp. 57-76
61. Brian Uzzi, 'The Sources and Consequences of Embeddedness for the Economic Performance of Organizations: The Network Effect,' American Sociological Review, vol. 61, no. 4 (1996), pp. 674-8
62. Putnam, Bowling Alone, p. 174
63. Mario Diani, 'Simmel to Rokkan and Beyond: Towards a Network Theory of (New) Social Movements,' European Journal of Social Research, vol. 3, no. 4 (2000), p. 291.
64. Granovetter, 'The Strength of Weak Ties,' pp. 212-21
65. Espinoza, 'Networks of Informal Economy,' p. 52.
66. On types of clientelist ties see Merilee Grindle, 'Patrons and Clients in the Bureaucracy: Career Networks in Mexico,' Latin American Research Review, vol. 12, no. 1 (1977), pp. 43-49
67. on patron-client relations in Rio see Gay, Popular Organization and Democracy in Rio de Janeiro; Zaluar, A maquina e a revolta, pp. 230-56.
68. Alvito, As cores de Acarí, pp. 162-4.
69. Leeds, 'Cocaine and Parallel Polities,' pp. 73-6.
70. See Tilly, op. cit.
71. On this see Zaluar and Alvito, 'Introdução,' pp. 7-18
72. also see Teresa Meade, 'Civilizing Rio': Reform and Resistance in a Brazilian City, 1889-1930 (University Park, PA, 1997), pp. 17-44, 69-71, 91.
73. Gay, Popular Organization and Democracy in Rio de Janeiro, pp. 21-34.
74. Ibid., pp. 19-21
75. Maria Alice Resende de Carvalho et al., 'Cultura política e cidadania: Uma proposta de metodologia de avaliação do programa Favela-Bairro,' unpubl. paper, p. 26
76. Burgos, 'Dos parques proletários ao Favela Bairro,' pp. 39-41.
77. Luke Dowdney, Children of the Drug Trade: A Case Study of Children in Organized Armed Violence in Rio de Janeiro (Rio de Janeiro, 2003), pp. 32, 60-2
78. Caco Barcellos, Abusado: O dono de morro Dona Marta (Rio de Janeiro, 2003), p. 234
79. Leeds, Cocaine and Parallel Polities, pp. 70-73
80. Burgos, 'Dos parques proletários ao Favela Bairro,' pp. 44-5
81. Alba Zaluar, 'Crime, medo, e política,' in Zaluar and Alvito (eds.), Um século de favela, pp. 211-2, 218.
82. Martin Sanchez-Jankowski, Islands in the Street: Gangs and American Urban Society (Berkeley, 1991), pp. 180-93
83. Centro de Defesa dos Direitos Humanos 'Bento Rubião', Favelas e as organizações comunitárias (Petropolis, 1993), pp. 55-8, 63.
84. The names of the first two communities, Santa Ana and Tubarão, have been changed to protect subjects. The real name of the third community, Vigário Geral, is used because of the large secondary literature on the favela. I have used pseudonyms to protect the names of subjects.
85. For more on this see Enrique Desmond Arias, 'Faith in our Neighbors: Networks and Social Order in Three Brazilian Favelas,' Latin American Politics and Society vol. 46, no. 1, 2004.
86. Josias, president of Santa Ana Residents' Association, 26 July 1996
87. Josias and Manoel, vice-president of Santa Ana Residents' Association, 13 May 1997
88. Josélino, resident, hardware store owner, and evangelical Christian, 15 August 1997.
89. On the distinction between Pentecostal and Neo-Pentecostal churches see Alvito, As cores de Acarí, pp. 165-218.
90. Bête, organizer of Clube Social, Martinha, director of Clube Social, and Andrea, older resident and director of Clube Social, 4 June 1997.
91. Camilla, organiser of Catholic crèche, and Michele, worker in crèche, 14 August 1997.
92. Josias and Jànio, Santa Ana Residents' Association treasurer, 11 June 1997
93. Josélino, 15 August 1997.
94. Camilla, 25 July 1997.
95. Josias and Jânio, 11 July 1997.
96. Josias and Jânio, 11 July 1997.
97. Bête, Martinha and Andrea, 4 June 1997.
98. Observed meeting of leadership of social club, 26 May 1997.
99. Josias, 13 Aug. 1997.
100. This type of negotiation is also mentioned by Alvito, As cores de Acarí, p. 124
101. Josias, 22 July 1997.
102. Josias, Geraldo, public health working from outside the community, and Eusébio, Santa Ana Residents' Association treasurer, 14 Aug. 1997
103. Josélino, 15 Aug. 1997.
104. Josias, 28 July 1997.
105. At the time the value of the real was very close to the dollar; Camilla, 14 Aug. 1997.
106. Manoel, 11 Dec. 1997.
107. Conversation with Josélino on a variety of topics on short visit to favela, 23 Oct. 1998
108. this account was confirmed in a conversation with Manoel, the Residents' Association vice president, 18 Sept. 1998; as it turned out this politician was heavily involved in the scandals that rocked the Brazilian government in 2005.
109. Bernardo, president of Tubarão Residents' Association, and unknown resident of Ceuzinho, 6 Oct. 1998
110. Anderson, head of local government rights center and resident of Ceuzinho, 21 Oct. 1998
111. Sister Elena, foreign nun living in community, 25 Nov. 1998
112. Elizete, resident of Ceuzinho and part time drug dealer, 6 Jan. 1999.
113. Ludmila, teacher in school near community, 25 Aug. 1998
114. Regina, bar owner and resident, 23 Nov. 1998
115. Denise, long-time resident of Ceuzinho who runs elevators in nearby school, 25 Nov. 1998.
116. Sacha, leader of Spiritish crèche, 19 Oct. 1998
117. Jorge, former leader of Ceuzinho AM, 17 Jan. 1999.
118. Jorge, 17 Jan. 1999.
119. Marina, leader of spiritist crèche, 19 Oct. 1998.
120. Conversation with Zinha, older resident, and Cesar, resident and work in Residents' Association, 7 Oct. 1998.
121. Bernardo and unknown resident of Ceuzinho, 6 Oct. 1998.
122. Alexandre, president of Ceuzinho AM, and Jorge, 9 Jan. 1999
123. Bernardo and unknown residents after radio robbery, 5 Oct. 1998.
124. Observed conversation in the AM, 27 Sep. 1998.
125. Bernardo, 6 Oct. 1998
126. Bernardo and Jussara, Residents' Association secretary, 7 Oct. 1998.
127. Cristiano, former co-owner of local sound system with traffickers, 18 April 1999.
128. Bernardo, 6 Oct. 1998
129. Bernardo and Jussara, Residents' Association secretary, 7 Oct. 1998.
130. Bernardo and residents looking for work, 1998
131. Bernardo, Salomão and Jusara, 1998
132. Bernardo, Jusara, and representatives of political candidate, 1998.
133. Statements by Bernardo, 7 Oct. 1998.
134. Ibid.
135. Cedric, Ceuzinho resident and NGO activist, 10 July 2001.
136. Observations of Leadership Council Meeting in Tubarão, 7 July 2001.
137. Meeting with Major Luis, July 21, 2003
138. for a fuller analysis of this reform effort see Arias, 'Faith in Our Neigbours', pp. 19-26.
139. Ventura, Cidade partida, pp. 66-68
140. James Holston and Teresa Caldeira, 'Democracy, Law, and Violence: Disjunctions of Brazilian Citizenship,' in Agüero and Stark (eds.), Fault Lines of Democracy, pp. 266-7
141. Patricia, former Vigário resident and mother of two killed in massacre, 19 Sept. 1997
142. Paula, Vigário resident and widow of former Residents' Association president, 24 Sept. 1997
143. Miguel, former community plumber and long time Vigário resident, 25 Nov. 1997.
144. Charles, local activist and artist, 12 Nov. 1997.
145. Charles, 12 Nov. 1997
146. Mateus, educator and outside activist, 7 Jan. 1998.
147. Arias, 'Faith in our Neighbors,' pp. 12-19.
148. Statement made by Almeida, Vigário Residents' Association president, to Mateus and Daniel, teacher and community activist, 16 Jan. 1998.
149. Miguel, 25 Nov. 1997.
150. Ibid.
151. Luis, former Residents' Association president, 9 Oct. 1997
152. Tânia, Vigário resident working to build workers cooperative, 9 Oct. 1997.
153. Luis, former Residents' Association president, 9 Oct. 1997
154. on crime control efforts by traffickers Cynthia, Oct. 2 1997
155. conversation between Dé, Vigário resident and community sewage worker, 8 Jan. 1998.
156. Conversation with Charles, 15 Oct. 1997.
157. Pedro and Wesley, community residents and Afro-Reggae activists, 7 Oct. 1997.
158. Conversation between Marcos, resident about 80 years old who lives in impoverished part of community, and Almeida. Statement made by Marcos in conversation with Almeida, 24 Nov. 1997.
159. Conversation with Miguel, 25 Nov. 1997.
160. Conversation with Paula, 24 Sept. 1997.
161. Patricia, 19 Sept. 1997
162. Paula, 24 Sept. 1997
163. Miguel, 25 Nov. 1997.
164. Paula, 24 Sept. 1997.
165. Pedro and Wesley, 7 Oct. 1997
166. Almeida and unknown resident, 5 Dec. 1997
167. Daniel and Joana, long time Vigário resident and mother of Daniel, 7 Jan. 1998
168. Charles, 12 Nov. 1997
169. Mateus and Daniel, 7 Jan. 1998.
170. Charles, 12 Nov. 1997
171. Dé, 8 Jan. 1998
172. observed community leadership forum meeting, Jan. 7, 1998.
173. Marcos and Almeida, 24 Nov. 1997
174. Miguel, 25 Nov. 1997
175. Mateus, Daniel and Almeida, 7 Jan. 1998
176. Paula, 24 Sept. 1997.
177. Cynthia, former resident and AM Secretary, 2 Oct. 1997
178. Paula, 24 Sept. 1997.
179. Rúbia, Vigário resident and local restaurant owner, with other residents working on political campaign, 5 Oct. 1998.
180. In other favelas I visited during the election I noticed that the posters of conservative party candidates had been altered to remove the name of the gubernatorial candidate.
181. Clarinha, CdP activist and massacre survivor, 30 Jan. 1998.
182. Obsered conversation among residents and NGO workers in street, 22 Jan. 1998.
183. Observed meeting of commission seeking to replace CdP leadership, 30 Jan. 1998.
184. Malkin, 'Narcotrafficking,' pp. 101-3, 105-20
185. on traffickers, efforts to build legitimacy see Alvito, As cores de carí pp. 149-64.
186. See also Leeds, 'Cocaine and Parallel Polities,' pp. 70-3
187. Mafra, 'Drogas e símbolos,' pp. 281-2.
188. Alvito, As cores de Acarí, pp. 161-2
189. on uses of conjugal relations see p. 224.
190. On criminals and protection see Diego Gambetta, The Sicilian Mafia (Cambridge, 1993), pp. 15-33.
191. It should be noted that while only the Policia Militar (Rio's uniformed police) are discussed here, there is also ample corruption within the Policia Civil (Rio's investigative police). There were, however, few observations of their activities in these communities during field research.
192. Also see Alvito, As cores de Acarí, pp. 151-3.
193. Also see Paul E. Amar, 'Reform in Rio: Reconsidering the Myths of Crime and Violence,' NACLA Report on the Americas Vol. 37, no. 1 (2002), pp. 39-40.
194. Also see Clara Mafra, 'Drogas e símbolos.'