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Urban Violence, Political Economy, and Territorial Control: Insights from Medellín

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 September 2022

Eduardo Moncada
Eduardo Moncada*
Affiliation:
Barnard College, Columbia University
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Abstract

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Urban violence is an emerging challenge to development and democracy across Latin America. How do cities negotiate this challenge alongside pressures to compete in global markets and enable greater political participation? This article analyzes the politics of urban violence in the intriguing case of Medellín, Colombia, which international donors and policy makers herald as having reshaped its urban governance and economic appeal through its response to violence. The article provides a within-case comparative analysis of contrasting outcomes in the trajectories of the political projects Medellín launched in response to urban violence amid the drug wars of the early 1990s and the subsequent urbanization of the Colombian civil war. I argue that a focus on urban political economies and patterns of armed territorial control contributes to our understanding of the politics of urban violence, reveals limitations for the diffusion of the Medellín model, and identifies promising avenues for future research.

Resumen

Resumen

La violencia urbana es un reto emergente para el desarrollo y la democracia en América Latina. Este análisis examina como las ciudades de la región hacen frente a este desafío junto a las presiones para competir en los mercados globales y permitir una mayor participación política. El artículo analiza la política de la violencia urbana en el intrigante caso de Medellín, Colombia, el cual los donantes y gobernantes internacionales alaban por haber reforzado su gobernanza y competitividad económica a través de su respuesta a la violencia. En este análisis ofrezco una perspectiva comparativa que contrasta las trayectorias de los proyectos políticos que Medellín lanzó en respuesta a la violencia urbana en medio de la guerra de la droga en la década de los 1990 y la posterior urbanización de la guerra civil colombiana. El análisis indica que un enfoque en las economías políticas urbanas y los patrones de control territorial armado contribuye a nuestra comprensión de la política de la violencia urbana, pone de relieve las limitaciones potenciales para la exportación del modelo de Medellín, e identifica vías prometedoras para futuras investigaciones.

Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Research Review , Volume 51 , Issue 4 , 2016 , pp. 225 - 248
Copyright
Copyright © 2016 by the Latin American Studies Association

Footnotes

I thank the three anonymous reviewers for LARR for their careful readings and constructive feedback, which greatly improved this article. The research for this article was made possible by support received from the American Society of Criminology, the Smith Richardson Foundation, the Ford Foundation, the Fulbright-Hays program, the Harry Frank Guggenheim Foundation, and the Drugs, Security, and Democracy program from the Open Society Foundation and the Social Science Research Council.

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