Drugs and Democracy in Rio de Janeiro: Trafficking, Social Networks, and Public Security
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Based on ethnographic work in three favelas (shantytowns) over the past ten years, this analysis considers the harmful effects of illegal drug trafficking and associated violence on crime control, governance, and, ultimately, democratization in Brazil. Much of the violence is the result of highly organized, politically connected drug dealers, feeding off of the global cocaine market. Rising crime prompts repressive police tactics, corruption runs deep in state structures, the rich move to walled communities and the poor are caught between criminals and corrupt officials. Arias argues that institutional public policy is not enough to change the circumstances—the challenge is to build new social networks committed to controlling violence locally. He suggests this method could apply to cities elsewhere in Brazil and throughout the rest of Latin America.
