The Militarization of Law Enforcement
Evidence from Latin America
Bibliographic Data
| ID | 6317812 |
|---|---|
| Authors | Gustavo Flores-Macías (0000-0002-5285-3852, Cornell University), Jessica Zarkin (0000-0003-1443-2755, Cornell University) |
| Year | 2021 |
| Volume | 19 |
| Issue | 2 |
| Pages | 519-538 |
| Publication date | 2021-06-01 |
| Peer Reviewed | Yes |
| Open Access | Yes |
| Type | ARTICLE |
| Venue | Perspectives on Politics (JOURNAL) |
| Journal identifiers | ISSN: 1537-5927 • E-ISSN: 1541-0986 |
| Publisher | Cambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER) |
| DOI | 10.1017/s1537592719003906 |
| OpenAlex | W2997328728 |
| Language | EN |
| Citations received | 102 |
| References cited | 38 |
What are the political consequences of militarizing law enforcement? Across the world, law enforcement has become increasingly militarized over the last three decades, with civilian police operating more like armed forces and soldiers replacing civilian police in law enforcement tasks. Scholarly, policy, and journalistic attention has mostly focused on the first type, but has neglected the study of three main areas toward which we seek to contribute: 1) the constabularization of the military—i.e., when the armed forces take on the responsibilities of civilian law enforcement agencies, 2) the extent to which this process has taken place outside of the United States, and 3) its political consequences. Toward this end, we unpack the concept of militarized law enforcement, develop theoretical expectations about its political consequences, take stock of militarization in Latin America, and evaluate whether expectations have played out in the region. We show that the distinction between civilian and military law enforcement typical of democratic regimes has been severely blurred in the region. Further, we argue that the constabularization of the military has had important consequences for the quality of democracy in the region by undermining citizen security, human rights, police reform, and the legal order
Democracy · Enforcement · Law enforcement · Militarization · Military justice · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Sociology · Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance · Law · Political Conflict and Governance · Politics and Society in Latin America
Imperial boomerangs and the militarization of human rights
Police Peacekeeping
The politics of crime prevention
The Association between Anti-cartel Military Intervention and Municipal Homicide Rates in Mexico, 2000–2022
State Violence in Narcotic Drug Governance
Predicting police and military violence
Modernidad, democracia y pandemia ante la emergencia de los nuevos autoritarismos
The Public Security Issue Area
The “New Wars”
Informal institutions in policing
The Persistence of Latin America’s Violent Democracies
Routes to Reform
From Peril to Partnership
Humanizing Security through Action-oriented Research in Latin America
Violencia contra migrantes
Os soldados estão uniformizados
Volver la mirada al sur. Una criminología para América Latina
Comparing a Sample of Criminal Justice Undergraduate Students with a National Opt-In Survey Sample
Protocol for public opinion survey, Ecuador 2025
Hybrid Interpersonal Violence in Latin America
Pilot Study on Institutional Trust, Security, and Democratic Support in Ecuador During the 2024 Crisis
Slow Rolls, Shoulder-Taps, and Coups
Why programmatic parties reduce criminal violence
Comparative Reflections on Community-Oriented Policing (COP) in Post-Conflict Central America
Can criminal organizations be non-State parties to armed conflict
Challenges in creating humane and equitable policing
The Ethics of Defunding the Police
Shifting police strategies
No power vacuum
Socio-ecological disruptions in a militarized landscape
Criminal Violence, the State, and Society
Police, non-state actors, and political legitimacy in Central America
Trust in the police and the militarisation of law enforcement in Latin America
Building relational peace
The impact of police violence on migration
Dilemmas of substitution
Violent crime and the expansion of executive power in Latin America
Limiting aggressive policing can reduce police and civilian violence
Weaponizing Urban Development
Militarism and Militarization in Latin America
The Militarization of Public Security in Mexico
Intelligence, Militarism, and Militarization in Latin America and the Caribbean Region
Militarized High Schools in Mexico
Militarisation of municipal service provision in metropolitan Nairobi? A localised document analysis of Africa’s ‘fatigue duty’ politics
Conceptualising criminal wars in Latin America
La política de las bases militares en América del Sur
Democratic Backsliding and Militarization in Central America
Violent Legitimacy
Classrooms or Crackdowns? How Violence Affects Security Policy Preferences in Mexico
Moral reasoning and support for punitive violence after crime
State-Building in the City
Mano Dura v. Uneasy Peace in El Salvador
Migrant Remittances and Violent Responses to Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean
Policing and Autocratisation in Bolivarian Venezuela
Breaking the cycle
Racial Capitalism Must Be Defended
Hierarchies of Violence, Victimhood, and Remedy in the Pursuit of Women’s Rights After War
The Antimilitarist Feminist Network
How Gender Affects Officer Support for Police Militarization
Restoring trust in Mexico’s police
Uruguay 2023
Security or Social Spending? Perceptions of Insecurity, Victimization, and Policy Priorities in Mexico and Brazil
Increasing intergovernmental coordination to fight crime
Mall Cop or Robocop? The Political Determinants of Police Militarization in Brazil
Voting with Their Guns
Policing and Political Violence
Does Police Militarization Increase Repression
Street-level Repression
The Logic of Criminal Territorial Control
Emigration, Social Remittances and Fiscal Policy Preferences
Policing in a Post-Conflict State
The Human Costs of the War on Drugs. Attitudes Towards Militarization of Security in Mexico
Voting for Law and Order
The Consequences of Militarized Policing for Human Rights
Does Criminalizing Torture Deter Police Torture
Mano dura
Defending the Status Quo? How Re-election Shapes Criminal Collusion in Mexico
Militarization and Perceptions of Law Enforcement in the Developing World
Autocratización en tiempos de (in)seguridad
Policing insurgency
Civil-military relations as a 'coordination problem'? doctrine development and the multiple 'missions' of the Brazilian Armed Forces
Militarization matters
The development, security, and defence nexus in Brazil
Police reform in the aftermath of armed conflict
A construção institucional da força policial e os padrões de policiamento na América Latina
Little evidence that military policing reduces crime or improves human security
The institutional development of police forces and policing patterns in Latin America
High-risk participation
Law enforcement at the margin of the law
La seguridad pública y la violencia durante la presidencia de Andrés Manuel López Obrador
Policing Insecurity
I'm from the Government, and I'm Here to Help
The Violence of Law-and-Order Politics
Identity, Conflict and Discourse
Rushing Infrastructure Projects Under Austerity
Institutionalized Police Brutality
The Drug Trade and State Violence in Internal Conflicts
Conceptualizing Mano Dura in Latin America
The Impact of Military Policing on Armed Forces
Multidimensional Measures of Militarization (M 3)
Rethinking Military Politics
Political (In)Justice
Militarization fails to enhance police safety or reduce crime but may harm police reputation
Militarization and Policing--Its Relevance to 21st Century Police
Coercion, capital, and European states, AD 990-1992
Military Politics and Democracy in the Andes
Drugs and Democracy in Latin America
Homicidal Ecologies
Making Peace in Drug Wars
Civil-Military Relations in Post-Conflict Societies
Soldiers, Politicians, and Civilians
The State on the Streets
Right on Crime
Seguridad Y Policía en Costa Rica Posterior a La Guerra Civil De 1948
Cocaine Madness Counternarcotics and Militarization in the Andes
Mayberry revisited
Militarization and police violence
Police organisation and deadly force
An Econometric Analysis of Coca Eradication Policy in Colombia
Confronting Coup Risk in the Latin American Left
Military rule in Latin America
The soldier and the state
The Logic of Violence
Trends
The Contagion of Drug Violence
Civilian Praetorianism and Military Shirking During Constitutional Crises in Latin America
The Consequences of Militarizing Anti-Drug Efforts for State Capacity in Latin America
Toward Democratic Policing in Colombia? Institutional Accountability through Lateral Reform
Continuity or Change? Civil-Military Relations in Democratic Argentina, Chile, and Peru
Concept Misformation in Comparative Politics
The Logic of Violence in Drug War
A Tale of Two Missions
| Unique citing works | 102 |
|---|---|
| Citations per year | 17 |
| Citation span | 2020 - 2026 (7) |
| Citation velocity | current |
| Highly cited | Yes |
| Citation types | Neutral: 101 |