Politics and Violence in Central America and the Caribbean

by Hannes Warnecke-Berger

Overview

This book develops a comparative study on violence in Jamaica, El Salvador, and Belize based on a theoretical approach, extensive field research, and in-depth empirical research. It combines the Caribbean and Central America into a single comparative research that explores the historical (from the conquista onwards) as well as contemporary causes of violence in these societies. The volume focuses on forms of violence such as gang violence, police violence, every day forms of violence, vigilantism, and organized crime. The analysis provides a theoretical perspective that bridges political economy as well as cultural approaches in violence research. As such, it will be of interest to readers studying development, violence, political, Central American, and Caribbean studies.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9783030078560
Publisher:	Springer International Publishing
Publication date:	01/19/2019
Edition description:	Softcover reprint of the original 1st ed. 2019
Pages:	281
Product dimensions:	5.83(w) x 8.27(h) x 0.02(d)

About the Author

Hannes Warnecke-Berger is Senior Researcher at the Collaborative Research Centre 1199 “Processes of Spatialization under the Global Condition” and member of the Institute of Political Science at University of Leipzig, Germany.

Table of Contents

1. Introduction

2. Political Economy and/or Culture? Theorizing Forms of Violence

3.The Roots of Current Violence: Historical Comparative Perspectives on El Salvador, Jamaica, and Belize, 1500-1980

4. El Salvador: Transnationalization by Polarization and the Re-Emergence of Violence

5. Jamaica: Transnationalization by Force and the Transformation of Violence

6. Belize: Transnationalization by Coincidence and the Rise of Violence

7. Forms of Violence in Comparative Perspective

8. The Cultural Political Economy of Violence: A Conclusion

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

“This is a most accomplished study of a sadly and increasingly salient issue. It is never easy to conduct meaningful research on violence, and to do so in a comparative manner across distinctive societies and experience is an impressive achievement. Hannes Warnecke-Berger has made a really important contribution to the debate, and his study deserves a wide audience.” (James Dunkerley, Professor, Queen Mary University of London, UK)

“The academic community will highly welcome this book because it overcomes the dichotomy both between economy and culture and between causes and forms of violence. Both dichotomies characterize the current theory-inspired empirical research on violence. Area experts will be pleased about the comparative perspective on Central America and the Caribbean, which is still unusual in research on violence. It is an innovative, theoretically inspiring and empirically detailed investigated work from the younger generation of both research on violence and research on Latin America. I raise my hat!” (Heidrun Zinecker, Professor Emeritus, University of Leipzig, Germany)