Politics and History of Violence and Crime in Central America

This book highlights historical explanations to and roots of present phenomena of violence, insecurity, and law enforcement in Central America. Violence and crime are among the most discussed topics in Central America today, and sensationalism and fear of crime is as present as the increase of private security, the re-militarization of law enforcement, political populism, and mano dura policies. The contributors to this volume discuss historical forms, paths, continuities, and changes of violence and its public and political discussion in the region. This book thus offers in-depth analysis of different patterns of violence, their reproduction over time, their articulation in the present, and finally their discursive mobilization.

Provides an in-depth analysis of one of the most important social and political topics in Latina America today: violence and crime

PrologueVictor Hugo Acuña Ortega1. The Enigma of Violent Realities in Central America: Towards a Historical PerspectiveSebastian Huhn and Hannes Warnecke-Berger2. How to Explain and How Not to Explain Contemporary Criminal Violence in Central AmericaHeidrun Zinecker3. Of pandillas, pirucas, and Pablo Escobar in the barrio: Historical change and continuity in patterns of Nicaraguan gang violenceDennis Rodgers4. Memories of Violence in the Salvadoran Civil War: Comparing the Memoirs of Civilian Elites and Former Military OfficersErik Ching5. Questioning the Crime Wave: On the Rise of Punitive Populism in Central America since the 1950sSebastian Huhn6. The Salvadoran Armed Left and Revolutionary Violence (1970 - 1980)Alberto Martín Álvarez and Eudald Cortina OreroThe Violence of Dispossession: Guatemala in the 19th and 20th CenturiesJim Handy7. On Collective Violence in 19th-Century GuatemalaMichael Riekenberg8. Borderlands and Public Violence in a Shadow Polity: Costa Ricans, Nicaraguans and the Legacy of the Central American FederationRobert H. Holden9. Forms of Violence in Past and Present: El Salvador and Belize in Comparative PerspectiveHannes Warnecke-Berger10. The Violence of Dispossession: Guatemala in the 19th and 20th CenturiesJim Handy