Even as violent crime has declined worldwide in recent decades, Latin American cities have remained dangerous—they are now among the most violent in the world. This book brings together a stellar roster of contributors to look at the causes and consequences, as well as the  possible solutions to the problem of urban violence in Latin America. Using a framework of fragility and resilience, the contributors explore the ways that rapid urbanization—with its accompanying poverty and exclusion—has combined with the wide availability of firearms and a relatively young population to contribute to high rates of homicide and other violent crime. That violence in turn spurs calls for increased law enforcement, which itself often takes excessively aggressive form, wreaking havoc on already marginalized communities.  Featuring original fieldwork and case studies, this volume offers a fresh comparative approach to the issue that will be valuable to scholars and policy makers alike.

Product Description: This book examines the massive urbanization of the world's population. All around the world "Megacities" are becoming scenes of vast deprivation, especially in the global south. In such gigantic and dense social environments, complex sets of relationships link poverty and exclusion to urban politics, power relations and public policy...read more

Product Description: This is a comparative examination of the politicized armed forces of Peru, Burma, Chile, Turkey, Algeria, Ethiopia, Yugoslavia, Nigeria, and Guatemala. The volume looks at the consequences of military rule for nation building and economic development, and also addresses the effects the rise of globalization on the military, as well as the role of political armies in the consolidation of civil politics and democratic governance...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)

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Product Description: Latin America is in the grip of a double challenge--coping with what may be the worst economic crisis since the 1930s and the huge problems of poverty and inequality this has produced, while simultaneously consolidating its democratic transition, trying to recover from the traumas of many years of authoritarian rule and state terror...read more (view table of contents, read Amazon.com's description)