Crime and violence are major concerns for policymakers, institutions and people across Brazil and the region. Robbery, extortion, mugging, assault and threat of lethal violence are part of daily life, with profound implications for economic activity and investment, institutional legitimacy, mobilities and social cohesion. Markets for contraband, drugs, weapons, human trafficking are embedded in social and political systems, yet are highly adaptable to the emergence of new products and criminal actors, including transnationally, or in response to legal and policy reforms. State policies and practices are widely considered to be ineffective, reliant on mass incarceration, excessive force and collusion.
The workshop will introduce early career researchers and PhD students to research on governance and security, and using Sao Paulo as a laboratory to examine the institutional setting of Brazil. Participants will examine new research, methods and policy innovations through site visits and stakeholder engagement, including with state (criminal justice, security agencies), civil society and private sector actors. It will test evidence for effectiveness, innovation and transferability of public policies and civil society interventions, and consider how populations most affected by crime and insecurity can be transformed to improve social and economic well-being.
The workshop is co-hosted by the LSE Latin America and Caribbean Centre (LACC), the Department of International Relations at the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo (PUC-SP) and the Department of Political Science at UNICAMP. It will be chaired by professors Sebastao Velasco e Cruz, Paulo Pereira and Gareth Jones.
The workshop will draw from members of the Brazil Research Group on Conflict (GECI) and the Violence, Security and Peace network (VSP).
The workshop is funded by The British Council and FAPESP.
For further information please contact Gareth Jones (g.a.jones@lse.ac.uk)
Image credit: Ben Tavener (CC BY 2.0)