We are pleased to announce the full program for the Seventh Global Conference of WISC, which will be held in Warsaw on 24-26 July 2024. For your convenience, a directory of confirmed participants is also available for consultation. You can browse the list here. Additionally, you can download a PDF copy here.
FC06: The Latin American Mosaic: Politics, Non-State Actors and Violence
Time:
Friday, 26/July/2024:
3:00pm - 4:30pm
Session Chair: Prof. Marcial Suarez, Universidade Federal Fluminense
Location:Room 315
Auditorium Building
Krakowskie Przedmieście 26/28
Roundtable
Presentations
The Latin American Mosaic: Politics, Non-State Actors and Violence
Chair(s): Dr. Marcial Suarez (Fluminense Federal University), Dr. Marcos Alan Ferreira (Paraíba Federal University)
Presenter(s): Dr. Marilia Souza Pimenta (Universidade Estadual Paulista), Dr. Magdalena Lisińska (Jagiellonian University in Kraków), Dr. Alicja Fijałkowska-Myszyńska (University of Warsaw), Dr. Marcos Alan Ferreira (Federal University of Paraiba), Dr. Rafael Pineros Ayala (Universidad Externado de Colombia)
The levels of violence in many Latin American drug-producing, transit, and consuming countries escalated so fast and to levels so high that civil society and policymakers have desperately grasped at ‘common sense’ straws – whether implementing a ‘mano dura’ strategy, blaming systemic corruption in the polity or police, or hoping that legalization of drugs will bring peace(Centeno 2009; Fair 2010; Rivera 2011; Pion-Berlin & Trikunas 2011; Garzón-Vergara 2016; Roque 2017). This high level of violence generates erroneous claims of causality, declarations of ‘war against drugs” and analogies to civil war by politicians, media, and the police and acceptance of such views by the public. By misunderstanding the phenomenon, public discourse and policy make little progress in controlling the violence that has devastated communities and, indeed, entire countries.
“The Crisis of Democracy” is by no means unprecedented, however, we consider that in a moment of stress in the contemporary political process, mainly in Western liberal democracies, the theme returns with centrality. In contrast to other regions in the world where populist contestations and erosion of democracy have been taking place since the early 2010s, societal violence was already high in Latin America.
