Violence and Smuggling Markets: State-smuggler interactions on the Brazilian border

Different states’ laws and law enforcement capacities meet in border areas. The legal and regulatory differences, the distinct police and administrative capabilities involved, as well as the degree of commitment of state authorities, create rent potentials that are central to border dynamics and the frequent instability that prevails in border regions. This has been traced to the smuggling of legal and illegal goods and to the peculiarities of military and police enforcement of the movement of people and goods. On average, border violence in Brazil from 2000 to the present has been higher than in the rest of the country and concentrated in municipalities with smuggling markets. However, in these markets there have been large changes in the levels of violence over time and across municipalities without obvious reasons for such variation. Those levels of violence, however, have been highly volatile over time. The proposed research thus seeks to understand why, and under what conditions smuggling markets become violent, focusing on the interaction of state authorities with non-state actors.

Faculty Supervisor:

Jean Daudelin

Student:

Partner:

Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio de Janeiro - to merge

Discipline:

Sociology

Sector:

Education

University:

Carleton University

Program: