-Security, or rather its deficit, (in)security[1], has emerged as a central problem in recent years in Latin America, assuming a priority place on the agendas of different fields: political, media and academic (Baratta, 1998; Daroqui, 2003; de Marinis, 2004; Font, 1999; Pegoraro, 1995-1997-20001b-2003; Sozzo, 2000-2003-2008; Rangugni, 2009; Galvani et al, 2010; Damet:2014; UNDP; 2013; Briceño-León; Zavaleta Betancourt2012) – Despite its persistent relevance, its construction is not questioned; it appears as a given problem that must be solved, and where the security forces are both the cause and the solution to the problem. Thus, the quantitative growth of police personnel, organizational reforms of police forces, and technological investment in security appear to have been recurring measures in the region.

Security remains a problematic field, still shaped more by urgency and raison d'état than by scientific inquiry. Our aim is precisely to reinstate the questions posed by the social sciences in order to reveal the conditions of production and situational regulation of behaviors that are often considered outside the realm of state rationality (L'Heuilliet 2011). In this way, it becomes essential to understand the mechanisms that drive the democratic governance of (in)security, to unravel the practices they produce, the security forces that emerge as possibilities, and the effects that may arise from these articulations (Rangugni, 2009a-2009b; Rodriguez/Seghezzo, 2009).

It is important to note that the development of these representational and practical formations surrounding the problem of (in)security and its governance does not stem from a planned strategy with pre-established objectives, nor from carefully deployed interventions (Ríos, 2009, 2010). Therefore, this paper will describe these overlapping sets and the corresponding tensions within the realm of public policy in this area in order to identify and analyze the salient effects of these combinations.

Security in Latin America cannot be conceived or problematized outside of the strengthening and consolidation of democracy, which calls into question the role of the security forces and the armed forces, their scope, and areas of influence (Frederic 2009[2], Saín 2002). It is through the analysis of the security forces that we intend to account for one of the key dimensions of the problem of (in)security, as addressed by the constitutional governments of the region. 

The study of security forces within the social sciences is relatively recent. In Latin America, they only began to be considered relevant to research during the 1980s. Until then, they had been overshadowed by the armed forces, which had definitively shaped the lives of Latin American countries (Waldmann, 1996). In this context, human rights organizations played a decisive role. These organizations had a history of denouncing dictatorial governments and, once the transition to democracy began, were able to focus on human rights violations in the new Latin American democracies. Only then could security forces be specifically identified as an object of reflection and study. Academic studies that focus on security forces emerged as a corollary to the concern with rethinking the actions of these forces within the framework of the rule of law and democratic life. And it is no coincidence that the first to analyze them were human rights organizations. This inscription of the problem delimited it as a primarily legal problem, so traditionally studies on security forces in the academic field will assume a normative approach.

 Military dictatorships and state terrorism left a chasm, a divorce between irreconcilable elements: security and public order on the one hand, and democracy on the other. Within this framework, the initial approaches were, in a way, attempts to restore or heal the gap between internal security and democracy. The aim was to envision security forces capable of guaranteeing public order, but bound by the principles of democracy and the rule of law (Babini, 1990; Rico, 1981; Rico, 1983; Zaffaroni, 1984). Following these initial advances, the field of security forces studies continued to grow, to the point that researchers and groups dedicated to its study were established at various universities and research centers. Furthermore, many scientific funding agencies have considered police studies a priority research topic [3]. However, a network that brings together researchers and their teams has not yet been developed. Personal relationships exist, but there is no formal system of connection to facilitate exchange and cooperation between institutions and researchers. As a CLACSO group (2016-2019), we have begun to build a Latin American network on Democracy, Security Forces, and Police, and we believe it is essential to continue this work.

We consider it crucial to analyze, from a comparative perspective, how these constitutional governments' democratic foundations are challenged by the regulations, organization, and performance of their police and security forces. Conversely, the forms of policing that emerge from the policies implemented by different governments, and the repositioning of police forces in response to this socio-political demand, have become key dimensions for understanding the region's democratic regimes.

[1] Investigating the issue of “insecurity” necessarily implies a critical rethinking of its constitutive counterpart, namely, “security.” This is why we prefer to speak of (in)security to account for the impossibility of an absolute disconnect or, rather, for the constitutive imbrication that exists between the two terms. Cf. Galvani et al., 2010.

[2] Frederic, S. (2009) The uses of public force. Debates on the military and police in the social sciences. Collection 25 books for 25 years. Buenos Aires: National Library/UNGSM. Sain, M (2002) Security, democracy and reform of the police system in Argentina. Buenos Aires: Fondo de Cultura Económica.

 [3] In the following section, we transcribe the main advances of the researchers initially invited to form the working group

The field of police and security force studies has developed intensely over the last decade, overcoming the lack of scientific knowledge about these state organizations and the lifestyles of their members. This growth in research has been driven by a post-authoritarian political context, as well as by the influence of studies conducted in the 1990s in France by Dominique Monjardet and in Canada by Jean-Paul Brodeur, adding to the longer history of Anglo-Saxon approaches such as those of Jerome Skolnick, Egon Bittner, and James Fyfe.

However, this expansion of knowledge produced by the social sciences about police forces in each country of the region has not been accompanied by the institutional strengthening of ties between researchers analyzing these issues. In the absence of a regional network similar to those that exist, for example, in Europe,[1] it has not been possible to date to establish solid links that would allow for the comparison of realities, approaches, and methods of analysis.

The task of building a network of researchers stems from our previous CLACSO working group. While we have achieved many successes (in fact, we have doubled the number of members) and held several meetings with a large number of participants, we believe the process is not yet complete. Forming a new group will allow us not only to connect with more researchers but also to advance in building collective work and production. We decided to keep the name and general guidelines of the original proposal because we consider it necessary to continue the work begun in 2016.

It is in this spirit that we plan to move forward with building a website that will bring together researchers and, in turn, contribute to disseminating their work and fostering exchange with those interested in the issues surrounding security forces from non-academic sectors, as well as with political management and civil society organizations. Furthermore, we propose the idea of ​​producing two books as a result of the work we will complete over these three years.

It is worth mentioning that the proposed members of the working group are currently conducting research funded by various organizations in different countries of the region. We will mention some of their ongoing research projects to provide an overview of the current state of the topic. First, in Argentina, the proposed coordinator for the Working Group is Sabina Frederic, who also directs the Study Group on Police and Security Forces (GEPyFS) and the research projects “Interventions, Conflicts, and Obedience in the Security and Armed Forces of Contemporary Argentina,” registered and funded by the National University of Quilmes. She is also the Principal Investigator, along with Brigida Renoldi, of the PICT Project: “The State and Public Security: Obedience, Disobedience, and Authority in the Police and Security Forces of Contemporary Argentina,” UNQ Implementing Unit.

Both projects include a large part of the researchers accompanying this presentation and aim to analyze a central axis: the conditions, trends, and logics that currently constitute the relationships of obedience, disobedience, and authority in provincial and federal security police forces. The recurrence and intensity of the protests led by its members in Argentina and in the region (Brazil, Mexico, Ecuador) reflect a socio-political context where such relationships are challenged, whether as disobedience or insubordination towards the top brass, towards the rulers or in the exercise of social authority. The investigation analyzes the conflicts of October 2012 and December 2013, involving members of the Argentine National Gendarmerie (GNA) and the Argentine Naval Prefecture, and the provincial police forces of 20 jurisdictions, respectively, as critical events. That is, it approaches them as a reference to analyze from an ethnographic perspective the moral and emotional dimension of the conceptions and practices of the members of these forces regarding obedience/disobedience/authority towards: political officials, judicial officials, hierarchical superiors, subordinates, social sectors that they “serve”, “protect”, “repress” or for whom they “work”. This analysis advances knowledge about the tensions, conflicts, and contradictions that governability goes through in the Argentine rule of law; to the understanding of how legal norms are traversed by moral evaluations and emotional justifications that seem to challenge disciplinary and hierarchical regimes, to determine to what extent they can redefine power relations when it comes to police and security forces. From the field of anthropology and political sociology, concepts such as loyalty, leadership, reputation, recognition, extortion, betrayal, among others, can be theoretical resources to account for plots that escape normative or institutionalist views.  Part of the GT participates in the FONCyT - PICT project "The State and public security: obedience, disobedience and authority in the police and security forces of contemporary Argentina." in charge of Dr. Frederic. This research has already been endorsed by CONICET as a "Technological and Social Development Project" (PDTS) under the adoption of the Ombudsman of the City in the regulation of the Ombudsman of the City Police Personnel stipulated in Title IX of the Comprehensive Law of Public Security of the City of Buenos Aires (No. 5688/16). It is a fundamental tool in order to democratize a security force in Argentina: the City Police). Almost a year later, in December 2013, a series of protests by provincial police officers took place, demanding salary improvements and better working conditions, which affected 21 provinces in our country.

Secondly, it is worth mentioning other projects that bring together many of the researchers proposed to form the Working Group. One is the UBACYT project “Governance of (In)security in the AMBA 2010-2017: Security Forces and Surveillance and Control Technologies,” directed by Mariana C. Galvani, and the other is the PICT project “New Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) and the Reconfiguration of the Field of Security Governance in the AMBA,” led by Alina Ríos, with researchers Elea Maglia, Ornela Pugliese, Lucía Cañaveral, Karina Mouzo, and Mariana Da Silva Lorenz. These projects aim to offer a different perspective on (in)security, one of the central problems not only on the political agenda but also on the academic one, thus establishing a thematic area with its own distinct weight. This perspective has almost always been presented as homogeneous and closed, reinforcing a certain 'implicit consensus' that has been difficult to challenge. In recent years, this scenario has undergone significant transformations. One notable process is the creation of the National Ministry of Security and the reconfiguration of the city government landscape, which is beginning to take shape with the increasing importance of actors linked to local or municipal government. The creation of this Ministry in December 2010 can be interpreted as an event that unlocked the implicit consensus on the nature and approach to (in)security, which since the 90s had been defined as an apolitical issue requiring exclusively technical responses. The observable aspect of these recent transformations is the fracturing of this implicit consensus surrounding the problem of (in)security; fissures and disputes are beginning to emerge, which must be analyzed along with their effects. Furthermore, Victoria Rangugni, along with Juan Pegoraro, directs "Neoliberalism and Organized Economic Crime." "The Economic, Social, and Political Domination Strategy of Neoliberalism in Contemporary Argentina," also funded by the University of Buenos Aires, offers a novel perspective on the phenomenon of crime, understanding it as constituted by the economic illegalities committed daily. The project aims to reveal the social ties that make evident the participation in multiple state political decisions generated by individuals who have participated or are currently participating in private activities. Karina Mouzo and Mariana Galvani are part of this project. These three projects operate within the Gino Germani Research Institute, specifically within PECOS (Program of Studies on Social Control), which in turn operates the GEG(in)seg (Group for Studies on the Governance of Insecurity).

Another project focusing on illegal activities is titled “Security Policies and Institutions in the Province of Buenos Aires (2016-2020),” directed by Gabriel Kessler and funded by the National University of La Plata and registered with the Interdisciplinary Center for Methodology in the Social Sciences (IDIHCS-UNLP-CONICET). Three researchers are participating as members of the working group: Sabrina Calandrón, Santiago Galar, Ivan Galvani, Betania Cabandié, and Inés Oleastro. The project concentrates on the province of Buenos Aires over the last decade. It is organized around three main areas, which will be studied using both qualitative and quantitative approaches. These areas are: insecurity, conflict, and violence; security policies and institutional conflict management; and finally, the third area focuses specifically on the penal and judicial system, paying particular attention to the prison system. A final project in Argentina is “Borders, Limits, Fronts, and Interfaces: Studies on Argentina’s Borders at Multiple Scales, Dimensions, and Disciplines,” a project funded by CONICET and registered with the Interdisciplinary Institute of Tilcara and the Faculty of Philosophy and Letters of the University of Buenos Aires. Brigida Renoldi is involved in this project, which aims to contribute to social studies from a perspective that analyzes exchanges at the border.

In Brazil, one of the researchers proposed as a member of the working group, Susana Durão, participates in the project "Police and Urban Imaginaries: New Formats of Security in Cities of the South." This is an international cooperation project between Brazil (Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo) and Portugal. The project aims to develop ethnographies and comparisons of emerging new formats of security in contemporary urban contexts, both in regions of Southern Europe and in the so-called Global South. The focus is on new approaches to policing that are emerging on the margins—that is, in gray areas between the military and the civilian, the legal and the illegal, the formal and the informal, the visible and the invisible, between violence and peace. Plural policing is understood as a daily activity that involves planning, routine, and multiple interactions with the population, thus impacting their lifestyle and morality. But it is also understood as a means of creating and recreating social relationships, thus allowing comparisons between the different formats resulting from diverse cultural arrangements. A series of examples of policing will be studied, ranging from private security information agencies and consultancies to activist vigilante groups (both anonymous and informal, as well as neighborhood associations), including community policing projects and security schemes in gated communities.

In Mexico, researcher María Eugenia Suárez de Garay is currently coordinating the research project From the labyrinths of institutional violence in police care for women victims of gender violence. Stories, conversations and dialogues from multiple voices. The police in Mexico are often heavily criticized for not doing enough to protect women from violence and for displaying apathy, disinterest, shortcomings, and a lack of capacity in their actions. They are accused of delaying response and failing to protect victims, thereby contributing to their secondary victimization or revictimization. Police responses in this area appear to reflect the social environment in which victims live and draw a clear line between what is tolerable and what is not. These same forms and interpretations of police action in the face of violence against women become a relevant object of observation for understanding how events, practices, and processes of victimization are unfolding, further exacerbating the widespread violence against women, which has not been structurally reduced. The analysis of police conduct in situations of violence against women presented here is the product of ethnographic fieldwork conducted in the municipal police forces of the Guadalajara Metropolitan Area, Jalisco, through encounters with municipal police officers and users of municipal services. The socio-anthropological perspective adopted here stems from the conviction that the police play one of the most important roles in the criminal justice system: as first responders—in the broadest sense of the term, not just a legal one—and possess qualities that make them a key component of any policy aimed at combating gender-based violence and promoting women's human rights and a life free from violence.

In Latin America, the contemporary scenario necessitates broadening the analytical dimensions at play and challenging those provided by academic approaches developed in other regions of the Western world, especially those where the democratic order does not appear to be under the same scrutiny as in our region. Latin American security forces have been reformed and (re)formed over the last 30 years with the advent of democracies and subsequently with their consolidation (Saín, 2002, 2010; Arslanian, 2008). This has involved modifying police operations, their areas of jurisdiction, and even creating entirely new police forces. The reforms have affected legislation, training academies, and labor relations. These transformations require a local analysis.

In our ongoing analyses, we have observed the profound precariousness of police work and the resulting conflicts. Therefore, in the future, we must pay attention to the management and exercise of rights by security force personnel in Latin America. In Argentina, in October 2012, a joint protest erupted involving two federal forces: the Argentine Naval Prefecture (PNA) and the Argentine National Gendarmerie (GNA). The conflict began on Tuesday, October 3, the day after the September payroll was disbursed. According to the press, the spark that ignited the protest was Presidential Decree 1.307/2012, issued by the Ministry of Security, which resulted in a significant salary reduction ostensibly to regularize the pay of these security force personnel. The complexity of the security forces' pay system initially led to the reaction being attributed to an "incorrect payroll calculation" rather than the decree itself. In 2017, we began to see complaints from members of the Argentine Federal Police who did not want to be transferred to the newly created Buenos Aires City Police. In Mexico, there have been complaints from Federal Police officers who did not want to transfer to the National Guard. Uruguay is the only country in the region whose security forces are unionized.

At the same time, the last decade has seen valuable exchange experiences between academia and those responsible for implementing public policies and various sectors of civil society. As an example, we can cite the case of Argentina, where the Ministry of Security[2], through an agreement with a public university, the University of Quilmes, commissioned a qualitative report with ethnographic characteristics on training in the five national security forces. This led to significant advances in understanding these institutions and the creation of laws such as Law 199/2011, which reformed educational settings and established or formalized university institutes, contributing to the democratization and professionalization of the forces. Similar experiences have spread throughout Latin America, and we believe it is essential to systematize and compare them.

It is necessary, for example, to consider the economics of (in)security: the technological development of security (panic buttons, security cameras, armored vehicles, drones, etc.), the money and businesses that thrive on fear, where public and private security complement each other. Also important is the particular dynamic that "drug trafficking" takes on in local and regional discourses, policies, and financing, driven by a kind of post-Cold War construction of a common enemy.

Thus, we understand that the analysis of security policies, and in particular those related to police and security forces, is essential to understanding and contributing to a full understanding of Latin American democracies and their consolidation.

[1]http://syspoe.hypotheses.org/; http://www.internationalinnovation.com/probing-police-systems/

[2] Created in 2010 by Decree 1993/2010 – The Ministry of Security is hereby created