Criminal governance and extortion in informal economies

Fear as a mechanism of territorial control in Lima

Bibliographic Data

ID19487840
AuthorsJavier H Espinoza Escobar (0000-0002-9906-0526, Universidad Autónoma del Perú), Samantha Sotelo-Llancari (Pontificia Universidad Católica del Perú), Viviana Isabel La Rosa Salvador (Universidad Privada Norbert Wiener)
Year2026
Volume11
Pages1795425-1795425
Publication date2026-05-12
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueFrontiers in Sociology (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 2297-7775 • E-ISSN: 2297-7775
PublisherFrontiers Media SA (PUBLISHER • CH)
DOI10.3389/fsoc.2026.1795425
PMID42206282
OpenAlexW7160898274
LanguageEN
References cited27

Introduction: This article examines extortion as a form of criminal governance embedded in contexts of high economic informality, focusing on the case of San Juan de Lurigancho, Lima. The study conceptualizes extortion not merely as a criminal act, but as a socioeconomic mechanism that regulates territory, economic activity, and everyday life in the absence of effective state protection. Methods: Drawing on a phenomenological qualitative research design, the study involved 20 in-depth interviews with economic agents with constrained agency, community leaders, and judicial actors to explore the dynamics of extortion and its impact on social and economic regulation. Results: The findings show that extortion operates as a system of informal taxation sustained through the strategic production and normalization of affective regimes of fear, which function as a technology of social control. This regime is increasingly mediated by digital platforms, enabling the viralization of threats and a digitalization of coercion. Consequently, violence becomes routinized, social trust erodes, and silence is institutionalized as a survival strategy. Economic agents deploy adaptive responses ranging from pragmatic negotiation to fragile forms of collective organization. Discussion: The article expands the literature on criminal governance by demonstrating how economic informality, selective state presence, and digitally mediated coercion converge to produce a hybrid system of regulation. This study contributes to broader debates on informality, violence, and governance in urban contexts of the Global South

Corporate governance · Crime control · Extortion · Negotiation · Organised crime · Precarity · Social control · Socioeconomic status · State (computer science) · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Politics and Society in Latin America · Wildlife Conservation and Criminology Analyses

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