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RETHINKING PEACE AND CONFLICT STUDIES
SERIES EDITORS: OLIVER P. RICHMOND · ANNIKA BJÖRKDAHL
GËZIM VISOKA
Peace and Violence

in Brazil
Reflections on the Roles of State,
Organized Crime and Civil Society
Edited by
Marcos Alan Ferreira
Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies
Series Editors
Oliver P. Richmond
University of Manchester
Manchester, UK
Annika Björkdahl
Dept of Political Sci
Lund University
Lund, Sweden
Gëzim Visoka
Dublin City University
Dublin, Ireland
This agenda-setting series of research monographs, now more than a
decade old, provides an interdisciplinary forum aimed at advancing inno-
vative new agendas for peace and conflict studies in International Relations.
Many of the critical volumes the series has so far hosted have contributed
to new avenues of analysis directly or indirectly related to the search for
positive, emancipatory, and hybrid forms of peace. Constructive critiques
of liberal peace, hybrid peace, everyday contributions to peace, the role of
civil society and social movements, international actors and networks, as
well as a range of different dimensions of peace (from peacebuilding, state-
building, youth contributions, photography, and many case studies) have
been explored so far. The series raises important political questions about
what peace is, whose peace and peace for whom, as well as where peace
takes place. In doing so, it offers new and interdisciplinary perspectives on
the development of the international peace architecture, peace processes,
UN peacebuilding, peacekeeping and mediation, statebuilding, and local-
ised peace formation in practice and in theory. It examines their implica-
tions for the development of local peace agency and the connection
between emancipatory forms of peace and global justice, which remain
crucial in different conflict-affected regions around the world. This series’
contributions offer both theoretical and empirical insights into many of
the world’s most intractable conflicts, also investigating increasingly sig-
nificant evidence about blockages to peace.
More information about this series at

http://www.palgrave.com/gp/series/14500
Editor
Peace and Violence

in Brazil
Reflections on the Roles of State, Organized
Crime and Civil Society
Editor
Department of International Relations
Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB)
João Pessoa, Brazil
ISSN 1759-3735 ISSN 2752-857X (electronic)

Rethinking Peace and Conflict Studies
ISBN 978-3-030-79208-4 ISBN 978-3-030-79209-1 (eBook)
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79209-1
© The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive licence to Springer
Nature Switzerland AG 2022
This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the
Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of
translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on
microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval,
electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now
known or hereafter developed.
The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this
publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are
exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use.
The publisher, the authors and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information
in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the
publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect
to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made.
The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and
institutional affiliations.
Cover illustration © MC Richmond
This Palgrave Macmillan imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature
Switzerland AG.
The registered company address is: Gewerbestrasse 11, 6330 Cham, Switzerland
To Talieh, Lua, and Anissa
Acknowledgments
This book gathers reflections on peace and conflict in Brazil that emerged
during the project “Challenges for Peace in democratic societies: Public
security, crime and violence in South America”, which was funded by
Newton Fund Mobility Grant, number #NMG2R2\100064. Also, the
book edition had support from Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento
Científico e Tecnológico (CNPq—Brazilian National Council for Scientific
and Technological Development), grant Bolsa Produtividade Nível 2,
number #302285/2019-9. We are grateful to the British Academy,
Newton Fund, and CNPq for supporting this research.
I am very grateful to Prof. Oliver Richmond for all of his dedication
and partnership in this project, as well as for opening doors for participa-
tion in new ones. His support and vast analytical perspective on peace and
international relations inspire us to continue working for a more peaceful
world at all levels.
I have greatly benefited from two stays as Visiting Academic at the
University of Manchester in 2018 and 2019. Special thanks to Val
Lenferma, Ingri Buer, and Roberta Maschietto. In particular, thanks to
Jasmin Ramovic for all the support and patience with a Brazilian scholar
completely lost in Manchester!
At Universidade Federal da Paraíba, I am very grateful to the students
Anna Beatriz R. Gonçalves, Mirelle Lages, Aluizio Pessoa Neto, and dear
Lucas Barbosa (in memoriam). All of you were crucial to organizing the
Workshop “Challenges to Peace in South America” in February 2019.
vii
viii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thanks to all my colleagues that contributed to this manuscript.

Hopefully, this work will show how important it is to consider peace in
democracies that experience an everyday direct violence intrinsically asso-
ciated with state negligence, and structural and cultural violence.
To Anissa, thanks for your smile that can change any difficult day. Lua,
thanks for your curiosity that takes daddy out of his comfort zone and gets
him to research bacteria, air conditioning, and wind directions. To dear
Talieh, any task that I do would be impossible without your support,
thanks for your love!
Contents
Part I Understanding Challenges to Peace in Brazil:

Conceptual Debates and the Role of the State 1
1 Peace and Violence in South America: From Security

to a Peace Studies Approach 3
2 Conflict Over Peace in the Southern Cone Borderlands:

Hybrid Formations of Security Governance from a
Brazilian Perspective 29
Camila de Macedo Braga and Rafael Antônio Duarte Villa
3 Contemporary Patterns of Violence and the Inside/

Outside Problématique: The Case of Brazil 61
Veronica F. Azzi and Kai Michael Kenkel
4 Transnational Organized Crime and the Role of the

Armed Forces in Brazil: The Case of Operation Agata 87
Augusto W. M. Teixeira Júnior and Maria Eduarda L. S. Freire
ix
x Contents
Part II Peaceful Responses to Overcome Social Violence

in Brazil 105
5 The Sustainable Development Goals as a Peace Agenda:

Some Considerations on The Brazilian Case107
Henrique Zeferino Menezes
6 Practices to Build Peace in Times of Crisis: Experiences

from Northeast Brazil123
Paulo Roberto Loyolla Kuhlmann, Edith Larissa Rodrigues do
Rêgo Souza, and Luan do Nascimento Silva
7 Favela Peace Formation in a Violent State: Perspectives

from Favelas in Rio de Janeiro147
Ingri Bøe Buer
8 Gun Policy, Violence, and Peace: Examining the Challenges

Faced by Civil Society and the State in Brazil173
André Duffles Teixeira Aranega and Kai Michael Kenkel
Index203
Notes on Contributors
André Duffles Teixeira Aranega is Research Assistant in the Security

and Defense Studies Laboratory at the Federal University of Rio de Janeiro
(LESD/UFRJ) and a Masters student in the Institute of International
Relations at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio).
His research interests include Transnational Organized Crime in Latin
America, Criminal Geopolitics, and Gun Policy.
Veronica F. Azzi holds a PhD from the Institute of International
Relations at the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (IRI/
PUC-Rio) and is currently a Post-doctoral Researcher at the School of
Social Sciences at the Fundação Getulio Vargas (CPDOC/FGV). Her
research interests include militarization, pacification, state fragility, politi-
cal violence, gender, and instability.
Camila de Macedo Braga is Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Institute of
International Relations, Center for Conflict and Peace Studies, University
of Sao Paulo, Brazil and Research Associate at Centre on Conflict,
Development and Peacebuilding (CCDP)/Graduate Institute—Geneva.
Her research is supported by FAPESP and by the Laboratory Visions of
Peace, Centre for Advanced Studies in the Humanities and Social Sciences
(CALAS)—Costa Rica (2019–2020).
Ingri Bøe Buer is a PhD candidate at the Humanitarian and Conflict
Response Institute, University of Manchester (HCRI/UoM). From
2019–2020, she conducted fieldwork in Rio de Janeiro’s favelas in order
to understand peace activities by local social actors.
xi
xii NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS
Marcos Alan Ferreira is an Associate Professor in the Department of

International Relations at Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). He is
also Visiting Professor at Universidad Núr (Bolivia), a Senior Research
Associate at the Brazilian National Council for Scientific and Technological
Development (CNPq) and a Member of Global Initiative against
Transnational Organized Crime (GTOC).
Maria Eduarda L. S. Freire is Research Associate at Center for Studies
on Strategic Studies and International Security at Federal University of
Paraíba (GEESI/UFPB). Her research interests are: Strategic Studies;
Defense; Brazilian armed forces and militarization.
Kai Michael Kenkel is Associate Professor at the Institute of International
Relations of the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (IRI/
PUC-Rio), where he heads the Center on Armed Forces and Democracy
(NEDEFA). He holds degrees from The Johns Hopkins University
and the Graduate Institute in Geneva. He is an associate researcher at
the German Institute of Global and Area Studies (GIGA) in
Hamburg.
Paulo Roberto Loyolla Kuhlmann is Associate Professor in the
Department of International Relations at State University of Paraíba
(UEPB). He is also coordinator of Center for Studies on Peace and World
Security at UEPB and Project Universidade Ação (PUA). He is a Social
clown and collaborator of Clown Without Borders (Brazil).
Henrique Zeferino Menezes is Assistant Professor in the Department of
International Relations at Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). He is the
coordinator of Center for Public Policy and Sustainable Development—
NPDS/UFPB. He is also a Research Associate at the National Institute of
Science and Technology for Studies on United States (INCT-INEU).
Luan do Nascimento Silva is a PhD candidate in the Institute of
International Relations at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro
(PUC-Rio). He is Research Associate at Center for Studies on Peace and
World Security at State University of Paraíba (GEPASM/UEPB). His
research interests include aesthetic and peace, and arts and peace.
Edith Larissa Rodrigues do Rêgo Souza is Research Associate at the
Center for Studies on Peace and World Security at State University of
Paraíba (GEPASM/UEPB). Her research interests include Peace
Education, Children, and Peace.
NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS xiii
Augusto W. M. Teixeira Júnior is Assistant Professor in the Department

of International Relations at Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB). He is
Associate Researcher at the National Institute of Science and Technology
for Studies on the United States (INCT-INEU) and at the Brazilian
Army’s Strategic Studies Center (CEEEx). He is also the editor of
Brazilian Journal on Defense Studies (RBED).
Rafael Antônio Duarte Villa is Full Professor in the Department of
Political Science at Universidade de São Paulo (USP). He is also the coor-
dinator of Center for Conflict and Peace Studies, University of Sao Paulo,
São Paulo, Brazil.
List of Tables
Table 1.1 Comparing conflict and violence approaches towards South

America16
Table 2.1 Peace and conflict formation in the Southern Cone region 51
Table 5.1 Social aspects and conditions of vulnerability and
marginalization that promote/enhance violence 116
xv
Introduction: Examining Peace and
Violence in Brazil1
Art is one of the most realistic ways for an oppressed population experi-
encing everyday violence to express its suffering. In the verses of the most
famous hip hop group in Brazil, Racionais MCs, Brazilian violence is
insightfully described in four sentences as few academics have ever done:
Since the beginning, for gold and silver / Look who’s dying and then see, it’s
you who’s killing / Receives the merit the military uniform that does the bad
/ Seeing me poor, locked up or dead it’s already cultural.2They summarize
what is behind the violence, not only direct but also structural and cul-
tural: a capitalist system represented by the search “for gold and silver.”
Subsequently, they describe who is killed—mostly the poor—and conjure
the idea of a state represented by police that receives public recognition
for keeping subalterns locked up or dead. Unfortunately, while the music
was composed in 2002, it still describes the daily lives of millions of
Brazilians and also the past grounded in violence and injustice.
1
This introduction updates discussions developed in: Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira, “Violent
Conflicts in South America”. In: Oliver Richmond and Gezim Visoka (eds). Palgrave
Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020, and; Marcos
Alan S. V. Ferreira, “Peace and Conflict in Brazil”. In: Oliver Richmond and Gezim Visoka
(eds). Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
2
In more than 30 years of career, the hip hop group Racionais MCs has privileged the
discussion of social issues that daily affect the peace of the Brazilian urban population. Negro
Drama song is one of the hits of the group and describes the dramas and difficulties of black
population living in urban Sao Paulo, Brazil. It was composed by two of Racionais MCs
members, Eddy Rock and Mano Brown. Link https://open.spotify.com/track/3ytXzEJFe
VydFfmUhHvti8?si=XCx4cEq0TiKRQGvN7GUy2g
xvii
xviii Introduction: Examining Peace and Violence in Brazil
The contours of violence in Brazil from a historical perspective show

that current trends reproduce historical patterns. Its origins go back to the
period of Portuguese colonialism and the development of the state there-
after. Violence in Brazil can only be understood from a perspective that
includes a strong emphasis on all aspects of the phenomenon (direct, cul-
tural, and structural violence) and also a look at its socio-geographic sur-
roundings, South America.
After violent colonization that enslaved Africans, killed millions of natives,
and created a long-term social inequality between European descendants,
natives, and Afro-Americans, in the nineteenth century, South American
countries were established through wars and social conflicts. In Brazil, the
re-location of Portugal’s royal family to Rio de Janeiro in 1808 to escape
from Napoleonic troops paved the path for peaceful independence in 1822.
However, the country soon experienced social convulsions like Cabanagem,
Sabinada, and the Malê Revolt—all violently repressed by the state.
The nineteenth century also witnessed bloody and brutal wars in the
sub-continent, two of them involving Brazil. Two, in particular, can be
highlighted: the Cisplatine War (1825–1828), which opposed Brazil and
the United Provinces of the River Plate (currently Argentina and Uruguay),
and the Paraguayan War (1864–1870), a bloody conflict between Paraguay
and the Triple Alliance (composed of Brazil, Argentina, and Uruguay)
which victimized 440,000 people.
Currently, Brazil and all South America are seen by some experts and
international organizations as a peaceful region, especially due to its low
number of interstate conflicts in the twentieth and twenty-first centuries.3
While the region has experienced cases of tension between Colombia and
Ecuador in 2008 and a dispute between Bolivia and Chile related to mari-
time boundaries is still pending in the international courts, the South
American countries share a degree of mutual trust whereby disagreements
are discussed diplomatically.4
Although scholars and the UN consider South America as a peaceful
region if analyzed at the level of interstate disputes, looking at it domesti-
cally, its main country experiences high violence rates are far from peaceful.
Violence in Brazil is linked to social inequality weak state institutions,
including the justice system and the historical normalization of violence.
3
Kalevi Holsti. The State, War and the State of War. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press,
1996; Arie Kacowicz. Zones of Peace in the Third World: South America and West Africa in
Comparative Perspective. Albany: State of New York Press, 1998; UNGA—United Nations
General Assembly, 2003. South American zone of peace and cooperation. Resolution
adopted by the General Assembly 57/13. 8 Jan. 2003.
4
UNGA, Op. Cit.
Introduction: Examining Peace and Violence in Brazil xix
Violence is also fostered by transnational networks of sophisticated orga-

nized crime groups dealing with drug and arms trafficking with governance
capacities in poor urban areas. This scenario contributes to a violent social
setting, resulting in deaths and high criminality rates.5 Between 1991 and
2017, around 1.2 million people lost their lives as a result of intentional
homicides in the country,6 statistics similar to conflict zones. Even so, the
country has not been studied enough in Peace and Conflict Studies.
Examining Brazil through the Lenses of Peace

and Conflict Studies
Currently, there are few studies on the effects of violence in Brazil through
the lenses of Peace and Conflict Studies.7 Two central questions emerge
here: (1) how could we understand, through the lenses of Peace Studies,
a socio-political setting in which the state and criminal organizations are
the main perpetrators of violence, as it is seen in Brazil? and (2) what
peaceful responses can be offered by actors like the state and civil society
to overcome social violence in the country?
The responses to these questions were examined in a joint project between
the Department of International Relations of the Federal University of
Paraíba (UFPB), and the Department of Politics and the Humanitarian and
Conflict Response Institute (HCRI) of the University of Manchester. The
project was funded by the British Academy/Newton Fund and coordinated
by Oliver Richmond and Marcos Alan Ferreira. By exploring the effects of
violence perpetrated by non-state and state actors in democratic societies,
5
Carlos M. Perea. Extreme violence without war and its social reproduction implications
for building peace in Latin America. Peacebuilding, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.108
0/21647259.2019.1633105, 2019; Carlos M. Perea and Jenny Pearce. Post war and non
war violences: learning about peace and peacebuilding from Latin America, Peacebuilding,
https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2019.1632057, 2019; Sabine Kurtenbach. The limits
of peace in Latin America, Peacebuilding, https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.201
9.1618518, 2019; Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira. Criminality and Violence in South America:
The Challenges for Peace and UNASUR’s Response, International Studies Perspectives,
18(1), 64–80, 2017; HIIK—Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research.
Conflict Barometer 2018. Heidelberg: HIIK, 2019; UNODC—United Nations Office for
Drugs and Crime. Global Study on Homicide. Vienna: UNODC, 2019.
6
UNODC—United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime. Global Study on Homicide
(Vienna: UNODC, 2020), Booklet 2, p. 26.
7
A remarkable exception is the special issue on Latin America published by the journal
Peacebuilding, 7 (3), 2019. See also Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira, “Peace and Conflict in
Brazil”. In: Oliver Richmond and Gezim Visoka (eds). Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and
Conflict Studies. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2020.
xx Introduction: Examining Peace and Violence in Brazil
this project has shown that South America—and Brazil in particular—is far
from the so-called zone of peace that it is often portrayed as.
This collaboration also resulted in the organization of a workshop enti-
tled “Challenges for Peace in Democratic Societies: public security, crime and
violence”, held at the Federal University of Paraíba in February 2019. The
event gathered experts and graduate students engaged in research on
peace and violence in South America. During the debates and interactions,
participants decided that the ideas uncovered in these fruitful debates
should not be restricted to only the public that attended the workshop.
The idea for an edited book combining the reflections from Brazilian
scholars, analysis from experts, and contributions from talented graduate
students as co-authors emerged.
Consequently, the development of this edited book was aimed to
advance the research agenda regarding the intersections between peace,
public security, and violence under the lenses of Peace Studies. In Brazil,
the challenges to peace differ markedly from areas in regular conflict. Our
most significant obstacles include rampant inequality, a strong presence of
organized crime, extensive cultivable areas for cannabis, borders near stra-
tegic coca leaf production—which are the raw material for the production
of cocaine, one of the main drugs consumed worldwide—and a back-
ground of state violence, especially against poor populations and minorities.
The violence related to organized crime manifests as a result of a per-
manent context of inequality, prejudice, and poverty. At the same time,
given that organized crime is embedded in a socioeconomic system that is
grounded in class division within a neoliberal orientation, these groups
take advantage of structural violence against the population, reproducing
violence structurally and directly.8
Hence, not only direct violence, but also the structural and cultural
ones must be addressed. It is necessary to understand direct violence (like
crime-related homicides) as an outcome of violent processes present in the
structure of society (i.e., caused by structural violence, such as the unjust
structures that disseminate inequality and poverty in the poorest regions).
Direct violence as an outcome of structural violence is also strengthened
by cultural elements that permanently disseminate violence (which
includes prejudice against afro-descendants and peasants). The state has a
key role in this matter. Also, the civil society has the potential to overcome
8
Marcos Alan S.V. Ferreira. Transnational Organized Crime and Structural Violence in
Brazil. In: Atieno C., Robinson C. (eds) Post-conflict Security, Peace and Development.
SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol 13 (Cham: Springer,
2019), pp. 41–42.
Introduction: Examining Peace and Violence in Brazil xxi
this setting of violence experienced in Brazil at different levels, from local

to state. Some possibilities for laying a path toward overcoming violence
are explored in this book.
In this regard, the book goes beyond a “zone of peace approach” chal-
lenging the idea that Brazil is in a peaceful sub-region; yet it is not
grounded exclusively in direct violence—like homicide rates, brutal
violence from organized crime and police lethality. It is based on the idea
that, from a critical perspective, the Peace Studies approach can underline
how criminal activities and state violence are symptoms of human insecuri-
ties that emerge from underdevelopment and lack of economic
opportunity,9 as well as from a background of inequalities that normalize
violence. Furthermore, as we will see in the second part of the book, Peace
Studies can offer fresh perspectives to overcome this endemic violence,
especially looking at the latent capacities of social actors able to transform
conflict and violence and build a more peaceful society.
Structure and Contents

To provide a comprehensive analysis, this book is organized into two
parts. In part I, Understanding Challenges to Peace in Brazil: conceptual
debates and the role of the state, we start examining in Chap. 1 the peace
and security literature on conflict and violence in South America, the sub-
continent where Brazil is located. Looking beyond inter-intrastate ten-
sions, the Chapter shows that this sub-region is far from a zone of peace.
South America’s violence is linked to social inequality and, ultimately,
weak state institutions, especially the justice system. This scenario con-
tributes to a violent social setting, resulting in violent deaths and high
criminality rates in countries like Brazil. Subsequently, the book examines
the case of Brazil exclusively in the following chapters. In Chap. 2, Camila
Braga and Rafael Villa analyze the violence fostered by transnational net-
works that are strongly active across Brazilian borderlands, such as the
sophisticated organized crime groups that deal with drug and arms traf-
ficking and possess governance capacity in poor urban areas and borders.
The two following chapters discuss violence, the role of armed forces
and its actions against criminal organizations in Brazil. In Chap. 3, Kai
Kenkel and Veronica Azzi analyze the specificities of Brazil’s experience
with internal violence and pacification that are directly related to its posi-
tion as a state in the Global South and in Latin America, with particular
9
Paul Battersby and Joseph Siracusa. Globalization and Human Security (New York:
Rowman & Littlefield, 2009), 123.
xxii Introduction: Examining Peace and Violence in Brazil
focus on the role of the armed forces in society. Kenkel and Azzi also
explore the concerns with the exportation of a putative Brazilian para-
digm within the context of internationally led peacebuilding. In Chap. 4,
Augusto Teixeira and Maria Laryssa Eduarda Camara analyze how the use
of the military in public security has evolved to encompass joint opera-
tions and military organizational modernization. The chapter sheds light
on how, instead of conventional military power, public security opera-
tions were seen not only to be a prevailing agenda for the armed forces
but also a driving force of its organizational modernization.
Besides, the civil society and state have the potential to overcome this
setting of violence experienced in Brazil at different levels, from local to
state. Some possibilities for laying a path toward overcoming violence are
explored in Part II of the book, Peaceful Responses to Overcome Social
Violence in Brazil, covering initiatives from different actors. Chapter 5
explores challenges that Brazil faces in complying with the UN Agenda
2030, specifically the Sustainable Development Goal #16 (Peace, Justice,
and Strong Institutions). Chapter 6 presents the experiences of peace-
building from below in Northeast Brazil, a historically deprived region
and with high levels of violence. In this regard, Paulo Kuhlmann, Edith
Sousa, and Luan Silva provide a beacon of hope for those facing the vio-
lence in Brazilian society by showing the role of arts and mediation at
public schools to overcome violence through peace activism. Subsequently,
Chap. 7 authored by Ingri Buer provides an innovative approach
grounded in ethnographic research on how NGOs in Rio de Janeiro’s
favelas navigate both direct and structural violence to construct their
alternative peace, through the denunciation of state violence, conflict
mediation, youth programs, drug rehabilitation, education, and knowl-
edge production. Lastly, Chap. 8 presents the historical perspective on
how the advocacy of civil society and pressure on the state toward the
adoption of specific laws on gun policy in Brazil can help to promote a
more peaceful society.
Undoubtedly, many other issues of key importance could be developed
in a work on peace and violence in Brazil. Nevertheless, this book is
expected to be just a first step that will open new doors on these topics,
bringing fresh reflections and indicating new gaps for future research
efforts toward a less violent and more peaceful social space for Brazilians.
Introduction: Examining Peace and Violence in Brazil xxiii
References
Battersby, Paul, and Joseph Siracusa. 2009. Globalization and Human Security.
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Ferreira, Marcos Alan S.V. 2017. Criminality and Violence in South America: The
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Ferreira, Marcos Alan S.V. 2019. Transnational Organized Crime and Structural
Violence in Brazil. In Post-conflict Security, Peace and Development.
SpringerBriefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol 13, ed.
C. Atieno, C. Robinson. Cham: Springer.
Ferreira, Marcos Alan S.V. 2020. Peace and Conflict in Brazil. In Palgrave
Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies, ed. Oliver Richmond and Gezim
Visoka. Cham: Palgrave Macmillan.
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Univ. Press.
HIIK—Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research. 2019. Conflict
Barometer 2018. Heidelberg: HIIK.
Kacowicz, Arie, 1998. Zones of Peace in the Third World: South America and West
Africa in Comparative Perspective. Albany: State of New York Press.
Kurtenbach, Sabine. 2019. The Limits of Peace in Latin America, Peacebuilding,
https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2019.1618518.
Perea, C.M. 2019. Extreme Violence without War and its Social Reproduction
Implications for Building Peace in Latin America. Peacebuilding, 1–14.
https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2019.1633105.
Perea, C.M., and Jenny Pearce. 2019. Post War and Non War Violences: Learning
about Peace and Peacebuilding from Latin America, Peacebuilding. https://
doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2019.1632057.
UNGA—United Nations General Assembly. 2003. South American Zone of Peace
and Cooperation. Resolution adopted by the General Assembly 57/13, January 8.
UNODC—United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime. 2019. Global Study on
Homicide. Vienna: UNODC.
PART I
Understanding Challenges to Peace

in Brazil: Conceptual Debates and
the Role of the State
CHAPTER 1
Peace and Violence in South America:

From Security to a Peace Studies Approach
Introduction1
Here, we have as a starting that Brazil cannot be analyzed without a thor-
ough analysis of its sociogeographical surroundings—in this case, the sub-
continent of South America. Consequently, this chapter aims to present
This research was partially funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento

Científico e Tecnológico, Bolsa Produtividade (Nível 2), granted to Marcos Alan
Ferreira, Grant Number #302285/2019-9.
1
The arguments presented here emerged during the period I was Visiting Scholar
in the Department of Peace and Conflict Research at Uppsala University (Sweden).
I am grateful to Ashok Swain, Annekatrin Deglow, Ariana Bazzano, Pedro Feliú Ribeiro,
Augusto Teixeira Jr., Tulio H. Ferreira, Thiago Lima, Ielbo Marcus Lobo, and Xaman Korai
for suggestions for improving this manuscript. This chapter is a revised and expanded analysis
of: Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira, “Violent Conflicts in South America.” In: Oliver Richmond
M. A. Ferreira (*)
Department of International Relations, Federal University of Paraíba (UFPB),
João Pessoa, Brazil
e-mail: marcosferreira@ccsa.ufpb.br
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 3

Switzerland AG 2022
M. A. Ferreira (ed.), Peace and Violence in Brazil, Rethinking Peace
and Conflict Studies,
https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-79209-1_1
4 M. A. FERREIRA
and explain the peace and violence debates on South America by offering
reflections from an alternative perspective based on the concepts of Peace
Studies. This region is often analyzed through a state-centric approach,
but there are still too few analyses regarding social aspects that make the
region one of the most violent in the world. Even though Peace Studies’
theoretical framework is well equipped with concepts to understand the
direct and structural violence that permeates South American societies, it
has rarely been applied to the analysis of social conflict in this region,
including the Brazilian case.
Hence, a critique of the mainstream International Relations approaches
to the examination of peace and violent conflicts in South America is
offered here, followed by arguments in favor of applying Peace Studies’
conceptual tools to its analysis. South America is often seen by analysts and
institutions engaged in conflict and violence studies as a peaceful region,
largely due to its low number of interstate conflicts in the twentieth and
twenty-first centuries.2 While the region has experienced cases of tensions,
such as between Colombia and Ecuador in 2008, the Peru–Chile maritime
dispute judged by the International Court of Justice (1985–2014), and
the Beagle Channel dispute between Chile and Argentina in 1978, there
have only been three conflicts or military disputes between countries in
the region since the 1930s: the Chaco War between Paraguay and Bolivia
(1932–1935), the war between Peru and Ecuador (1941, with brief con-
flicts also in 1981 and 1995) and the Falklands War (1982)—the latter, a
conflict of a South American country with an external actor, the United
Kingdom. This context creates a perception that the region is a “zone of
peace”, defined as an area characterized by the absence of direct violence
between states, since they share a degree of mutual trust that allows the
use of dialogue channels as the primary means of resolving tensions.3
and Gezim Visoka (eds.). Palgrave Encyclopedia of Peace and Conflict Studies. Cham: Palgrave
Macmillan, 2020.
2
Kalevi Holsti. The State, War and the State of War. Cambridge: Cambridge Univ. Press,
1996; Arie Kacowicz. Zones of Peace in the Third World: South America and West Africa in
Comparative Perspective. Albany: State of New York Press, 1998; UNGA—United Nations
General Assembly, 2003. South American zone of peace and cooperation. Resolution
adopted by the General Assembly 57/13. 8 Jan. 2003. For a comprehensive literature review
on South America as a zone of peace, see: Rafael D. Villa and Marilia Carolina B. de Souza
Pimenta, “A longa paz na América do Sul: questionamento às teses de paz negativa na
região,” Papel Político, 21(2), 2016, p. 465.
3
Arie Kacovicz, Op. cit., 1998.
1 PEACE AND VIOLENCE IN SOUTH AMERICA: FROM SECURITY TO A PEACE… 5
If violence is studied beyond interstate tensions and the focus is shifted

to armed social violence,4 it becomes clear that the absence of conflicts
between states does not ensure a peaceful social environment, nor a zone
of peace.5 In South America, indicators such as homicide and violent
deaths by firearms are very high, equivalent to war zones, according to
several studies from UN agencies and specialized institutes.6 This scenario
is interconnected with a violent background from the colonization period
(from the sixteenth to the twentieth century), as well as the structural and
cultural violence that affect mostly Afro-Americans, natives, and white
European descendants in opposition. Moreover, international variables
such as drug trafficking and arms smuggling trigger clashes between the
state and organized crime syndicates, and also victimize ordinary citizens.
In this context, how may security and peace studies explain a region with
few state disputes, but take into account the violence embedded in South
American and particularly Brazilian society? How can we offer an alterna-
tive to the state-centered perspective that classifies the region as a zone of
peace? These issues demand a refined discussion by those involved in stud-
ies on peace, conflict, and violence in South America and Brazil.
To suggest an alternative perspective based on Peace Studies concepts
to understand the region, this chapter works from an interpretative per-
spective starting from the methodological premise suggested by Johan
Galtung for peace research. According to Galtung, peace research involves
three indivisible dimensions: (1) empirical peace research, dealing with the
problems of the past, that is, the only ones that engender data; (2) critical
peace research, which deals with the problems of the present, for instance,
4
Jenny Pearce, “The ‘Violence Turn’ in Peace Studies and Practice.” In: Barbara Unger,
Véronique Dudouet, Matteo Dressler and Beatrix Austin (eds.), Undeclared Wars—Exploring
a Peacebuilding Approach to Armed Social Violence. Berlin: Berghof Foundation, 1–10, 2012.
5
Carlos M. Perea, “Extreme violence without war and its social reproduction implications
for building peace in Latin America”, Peacebuilding, 1–14. https://doi.org/10.108
0/21647259.2019.1633105, 2019; Carlos M. Perea and Jenny Pearce, “Postwar and non-
war violences: learning about peace and peacebuilding from Latin America,” Peacebuilding,
https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.2019.1632057, 2019; Sabine Kurtenbach, “The lim-
its of peace in Latin America,” Peacebuilding, https://doi.org/10.1080/21647259.201
9.1618518, 2019.
6
Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira, “Criminality and violence in South America: The challenges
for peace and UNASUR’s response,” International Studies Perspectives, 18(1), pp. 64–80,
2017; HIIK—Heidelberg Institute for International Conflict Research: Conflict Barometer
2018. Heidelberg: HIIK, 2019; UNODC—United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime:
Global Study on Homicide. Vienna: UNODC, 2019.
6 M. A. FERREIRA
evaluating concrete policies; and (3) constructive peace research, which

deals with the future and proposes possible strategies for peace.7
From that angle, an overview of the interpretations of the prevalence of
violence and conflict in the region will first be presented; that is, the
approaches used in International Relations. Then, it will discuss how
Peace Studies concepts are useful in building dialogue channels with
International Relations in the understanding of violent conflicts. Next,
data from international organizations and think tanks will be introduced
and analyzed, providing an interpretative analysis of violence in South
America that displays the importance of concepts such as positive peace,
structural and cultural violence, and a comprehensive analysis of conflict
beyond state-centric approaches. The chapter concludes with some ideas
for a continuing debate about violence and conflict issues in South
America, and Brazil in particular, from a Peace Studies perspective.
Peace, Violence and Conflicts in South America

from International Relations Perspectives
Given its influence in International Relations, it is not surprising that the

state-centered approach is the prevailing perspective from which violent
conflict in South America is analyzed. One argument used by analysts who
use the state as the main level of analysis is that South America cannot be
regarded as peaceful even in terms of interstate tensions. According to
David Mares, the absence of conflicts in the region does not necessarily
mean that the area is peaceful as there are tensions that occasionally emerge
on some of its borders. To explain this, he suggests the concept of “violent
peace”: an area with a low incidence of conflict, but with latent disputes
predominantly interstate military disputes.8
in contrast, Felix Martin argues that the lack of interstate wars does not
preclude the existence of various threats or use of force in South American
countries. Martin argues that interstate peace in the region is explained
domestically, by the involvement of armed forces in national processes.
These actors focus their efforts on internal threats related to their political
and socioeconomic interests, rather than a concern with an external threat.9
7
Johan Galtung, “Twenty-five years of peace research: ten challenges and some responses,”
Journal of Peace Research, 22(2), 1985, pp. 141–158.
8
David Mares. Violent Peace: militarized interstate bargaining in Latin America (New
York: Columbia University Press, 2001).
9
Felix Martín. Militarist peace in South America: conditions for war and peace (Basingstoke:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2006).
Jorge Battaglino argues that South America is on a path towards being

a zone of peace—but also experiencing tensions in several areas. Because
of this, Battaglino suggests the region could be labeled as a zone of “hybrid
peace.” For him, an environment of peace between states, with accusa-
tions and deployment of troops on the borders occasionally—e.g. Ecuador
and Venezuela versus Colombia in 2008—creates a context in which peace
coexists with tension. He mentions that there are unresolved disputes that
may become militarized, while democracies maintain economic relations
and regional institutions to resolve disputes peacefully.10
Another state-centered approach has strong acceptance in the literature
and even spills over to international organizations’ resolutions. This per-
spective labels South America as a peaceful region due to the low inci-
dence of interstate conflicts. Vindication of the notion that South America
is a zone of peace is seen, for example, in the works of Arie Kacowicz. For
him, peace in the region is a consequence of a variety of explanations since
the late nineteenth century, amongst which are: the hegemonic role of the
United States and Brazil; the formation of a balance of power in periods
like 1883–1930 and 1970–1980; the mutual perception of threat, espe-
cially by the United States; remoteness from major global security issues;
the effects of democratization; economic development and prosperity in
recent years; economic interdependence and integration; the normative
consensus on the management of conflicts; and satisfaction with the status
quo in the region.11
This perception is shared by important scholars, as well as by the United
National General Assembly. For example, the perception of South America
as a zone of international peace is shared also by Kalevi Holsti. For him,
the twentieth century in South America
has been an era of relative peace. If we compare it to the record of war in

eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Europe, or to the twentieth-century
interwar period, the contrast is even more dramatic. Except for North
America, South America has been the most peaceful area in the world in the
twentieth century.12
10
Jorge M. Battaglino. “The coexistence of peace and conflict in South America: toward a
new conceptualization of types of peace.” Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, 55(2),
pp. 131–151.
11
Arie Kacovicz. “Third World zones of peace”, Peace Review: A Journal of Social Justice,
9:2, 1997, pp. 169–176; Arie Kacowicz. Zones of Peace in the Third World, 1998.
12
Holsti. The State, War and the State of War, p. 155.
8 M. A. FERREIRA
The UN itself said in its resolution 57/13 that South America would
be a zone of peace by acknowledging the multilateral instrument signed
by the presidents of South America in Guayaquil (Ecuador) expressing
willingness not to use violent means against countries in the region.13
An alternative analytical attempt to explain the singularities of conflict
and violence beyond the nation-state is given by the so-called Copenhagen
School. The founders of this analytical framework, Barry Buzan and Ole
Wæver, suggest that South American security can be characterized as two
sub-complexes of security: one in the southern region, covered by the
major regional powers (Argentina, Brazil, and Chile) which, after a long
history of tensions, gradually advanced to cooperate through regional
institutions such as Mercosur; and another located in northern/ north-
western South America, site of the main sources of tension and militarized
disputes not yet fully resolved, consisting of countries like Peru, Ecuador,
Venezuela, and Colombia.14
In these two sub-complexes emerge three major securitizing issues in
the post-Cold War period: the role of armed forces in a changing world,
social movements organized by indigenous peoples, and the securitization
of social development. The war on drugs was already a key struggle before
the fall of the USSR, and is therefore not seen by Buzan and Wæver as a
new security issue. Nevertheless, the Colombian civil war and the environ-
mental trusteeship of the Amazon forest are understood as scenarios which
can be securitized in a near future.15
Although the initial scheme of the Copenhagen School intended to
understand the conflict from an alternative perspective to state-centrism,
over the years it actually reproduced an analytical model focused on the
state. The comprehensive approach propagated by the Copenhagen
School became limited by the analyses done by its own proponents. The
recognition of the torrent of images and perceptions of security intrinsi-
cally linked with the military sector and the state is evidence of the analyti-
cal limitations of the Copenhagen School in coverage of economic and
social issues in the study of conflict and violence.
13
UNGA—United Nations General Assembly, 2003. “South American zone of peace and
cooperation.” Resolution adopted by the General Assembly 57/13. 8 Jan. 2003.
14
Barry Buzan and Ole Wæver. Regions and Powers: the structure of international security.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2003.
15
Ibid., pp. 321–339.
However, this criticism should not lead to neglect of the theoretical

development provided by the Copenhagen School. The works of academ-
ics involved in it provided a careful examination of international conflicts
and their violence. It helped to overcome the perception of threat coming
not only from states, recognizing the role of alternative securitizing agents
performing in a social context. Thus, it innovated and continues to pro-
vide new arenas for a comprehensive analysis. None the less, in the case of
security issues experienced in South America, and Brazil in particular, the
Copenhagen School perspective becomes restricted due to its greater
focus on the state, as South America suffers predominantly from endemic
violence in the grassroots of society, linked to state violence and orga-
nized crime.
Another innovative perspective on the investigation of conflicts and
violence was developed after the creation of the Human Security concept,
proposed in a report published by the United Nations Development
Program (UNDP) in 1994.16 The UNDP proposed the analysis of security
from an alternative perspective that also considered dimensions such as
economics, health, food, environmental policy, personnel, and community
security. The concept of Human Security recommends that the well-being
of individuals, supported by public policies or international organizations,
should be the final purpose of all security concerns.17
In his analysis based on the Human Security concept, Bernardo Sorj
advocates that South America must promote a proactive agenda and oper-
ate with a special focus on armed violence and support to institutions.18
On the other hand, Rut Diamint mentions the importance of the concept
but expresses concern that social issues can be viewed under a militaristic
logic in young democracies of the region, thus creating the possibility of
surveillance by intelligence services and persecution of citizens without
having to deal with problems imposed by the law.19
The concept of human security is often criticized because its amplitude
eventually made the definition unclear. It may cover everything while say-
ing little to deepen understanding of causal factors of violence and
16
UNDP—United Nations Development Program. Human Development Report 1994.
New York: Oxford University Press, 1994.
17
Bernardo Sorj. “Security, Human Security and Latin America”, Sur—International
Journal of Human Rights, 3(2), 2005, p. 39–55.
18
Ibid., p. 35.
19
Rut Diamint. Security Challenges in Latin America, Bulletin of Latin American Research,
23(1), January, 2004, pp. 43–62
10 M. A. FERREIRA
conflict. Some of the most incisive critics in this regard are Barry Buzan
and Lene Hansen, who argue that “human security has also been attacked
for being so broad that it becomes academically and politically vacuous
(…).”20 Buzan and Hansen are not mistaken in their criticism. Given that
the concept holds seven variables explained in a generalist way, it can be
applied to policies of the United Nations, but at the same time be chal-
lenging for scholarly analysis.
Nonetheless, the concept of human security has led to a radical change,
bringing to prominence the question of who is the priority in security.
While there is fear of misapplication of the term to justify massive military
interventions under a humanitarian label,21 the concept of human security
suggests a reinterpretation of the idea of sovereignty advocated by realists
and reproduced by the Copenhagen School. It gives rise to a view that
sovereignty is a responsibility of the state, to be ensured with policies
focused on individual basic rights.
Therefore, similarities between human security and the proposals of
Peace Studies are undeniable. However, as we will show in the next sec-
tion, Peace Studies brings additional concepts contributing to a better
appreciation of the South American setting beyond the individual as a
centerpiece. A focus on society can provide solutions to deal with high
levels of domestic violence enhanced by transnational variables, connect-
ing the fruitful discussion of human security and the Copenhagen School
with those of Peace Studies.
Alternatives to a New Analytical Framework

on Peace and South America
The comprehension of patterns of conflict and violence in South America,

and Brazil in particular, is a complex matter that can be explained only
partially by a state-centered approach. It is unlikely that we will reach an
accurate analysis if we focus exclusively on quantifiable dyads of militarized
disputes understood by statistical processes, or just on interstate tensions.
20
Barry Buzan and Lene Hansen. The Evolution of International Security Studies.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2009, p. 203.
21
See: Nicolas Thomas and William Tow. “The Utility of Human Security: Sovereignty
and Humanitarian Intervention”, Security Dialogue, 33 (2), 2002, p. 177–192; Alex Bellamy.
“Responsibility to Protect or Trojan Horse? The Crisis in Darfur and Humanitarian
Intervention in Iraq”, Ethics & International Affairs, 19(2), 2006, pp. 31–54.
The complexity of the question imposes a challenging interpretative task

on analysts, requiring them to carry on a constant interdisciplinary dia-
logue supported by qualitative methods such as ethnography, structured
interviews, and specific case studies.
This does not overturn the use of concepts usually employed in
International Relations such as Regional Security Complexes. If an emerg-
ing security community is achievable, it is necessary to be able to direct
debates toward the right issues, not only traditional issues of international
security. A focus on diplomatic discussions can lay the path for the con-
struction of a positive peace in South America. The same can be said about
the human security approach, which can generate a fruitful discussion of
the ways in which individual rights can be secured in a violent environment.
Nevertheless, Peace Studies can also offer an improved and compre-
hensive analysis of violence in the sub-region. It can provide a response to
the gap in the state-centric literature on peace and conflict in South
America. Rafael Villa and Marilia Pimenta, in a critique of these state-
centric analyses grounded in the idea of South America as a “zone of
peace,” affirm:
There seems to be an exhaustion or conceptual saturation of these binomial

traditional epistemic narratives that, certainly, have been relevant for solving
conceptual dilemmas, based on a rich historical sociology, but which has
exhausted its main dichotomy (peace versus war), and which need to be
recycled incorporating emerging narratives, such as regional social violence,
as a new essential constitutive element of the international-regional in
South America.22
Surprisingly, analyses of violence in South America applying Peace

Studies theories and concepts are almost absent. It seems that in analysis
of South America it has been forgotten that “peace always has a time and
place […] and exists in multiple forms in overlapping spaces of influence”.23
To understand South American violence accurately on the way toward the
creation of a path to positive peace, the first step is to overcome a top-
down approach and include social relations in the analysis. This means that
peace should be centered in society, not just the state, and built from
22
Rafael D. Villa and Marilia Carolina B. de Souza Pimenta. “A longa paz na América do
Sul: questionamento às teses de paz negativa na região,” Papel Político, 21(2), 2016, p. 465.
23
Oliver Richmond. “Critical Research Agendas for Peace: The Missing Link in the Study
of International Relations”, Alternatives: Global, Local, Political. 32 (2), 2007, p. 264.
12 M. A. FERREIRA
contextualized social spaces and the “many peaces” that exist or should
exist at the grassroots, in democratic dialogue with each other.24
These dominant theoretical approaches are relevant for explaining
some dependent variables such as the occurrence of interstate conflicts and
the degree of securitization of some issues, as the approaches outlined in
the previous section do. However, we argue that they are insufficient to
explain how peaceful (or not) South America and Brazil are. I intend to
show here that several concepts coming to prominence since the begin-
ning of Peace Studies can be useful for an evolved understanding of ten-
sions and disputes in South America, in a perspective that goes beyond
analysis at the state level or a widely diffused perspective at the individual
level. Moreover, the argument is not that Peace Studies alone can explain
the violence in South America, but that it can complement other
approaches. While previous analyses focus on the state or the individual,
Peace Studies highlights the importance of understanding how violence is
structured and is manifested in society.
In this process, it becomes crucial to outline and implement the con-
cepts of Peace Studies, starting with the very meaning of peace. Peace is
understood by Johan Galtung as the absence of violence, and is divided
into two types: positive and negative. Negative peace is simply the absence
of direct violence (ideological or resource-based). Since the absence of
direct violence can be imposed by political or non-state actors through
forms of economic and political oppression, it becomes important to
define the concept of positive peace. This involves the absence or reduc-
tion of structural violence, which means a constant search for quality of
life, personal growth, freedom, social equality, economic equity, solidarity,
autonomy, and participation. Thus, peace is not only the cessation of
direct violence but also engagement in a more peaceful socioeconomic
environment.25
Furthermore, according to Galtung, one cannot study the possibilities
of peace merely by focusing on an international conflict or a struggle
between two states. For him, “there are many borderlines cross-cutting
24
Perea and Pearce. Postwar and nonwar violences, p. 6
25
Johan Galtung. “Violence, Peace and Peace Research”, Journal of Peace Research, 6 (3),
1969, p. 167–191; Johan Galtung. “World Indicators Program,” Security Dialogue, 4, 1973,
pp.354–358.
mankind, creating steep gradients in degree of integration and willingness

to use violence. Only some of these borders are national borderlines.”26
In other words, as stated in one of the few studies looking at Latin
America from the perspective of Peace Studies, “peace is not merely the
absence of war but also the absence of other types of violence that limit or
prevent a close relationship between reality and potentiality.”27 Identifying
violent phenomena (direct and structural) and proposing their favorable
resolution is one of the tasks of Peace Studies.
Galtung developed the terminology “structural violence” in a 1969
article, defining it as a social injustice. The measurement of this social
injustice allows us to identify this form of violence, which often goes
unnoticed but victimizes thousands of people daily. In a setting of inequal-
ity, Galtung suggests that the researcher should ask: what factors, other
than direct violence or the threat thereof, tend to support a condition of
inequality? Faced with this question, to comprehend structural violence,
researchers must know the fundamentals of the sciences that explain the
social structures of their object of analysis, even those seen in the military
and state-centric perspectives on the study of direct violence.28 Finally, it is
not enough to measure violence only in terms of the number of deaths; we
must also take account of important indicators such as the degree to which
life expectancy decreases when structural violence is present,29 or even
how inequality and social injustice trigger violent processes in society.30
It is also important to mention that the concept of structural violence
goes together with a broader notion of conflict. In this sense,
conflict (…) indicates a situation within a social system in which irreconcil-

able aims each strive for dominion over one another. This shows that con-
flicts originate from opposing interests in intra-societal or inter-societal
systems. There are concrete reasons between individuals and groups. Among
26
Johan Galtung. “Editorial”, Journal of Peace Research, 1(1), 1964, p. 2.
27
Andrés Serbín. “Paz, violência y sociedad civil en América Latina y Caribe. Introducion
a algumas nociones básicas”. In: Andrés Serbin (ed.) Construcción de paz y diplomacia ciu-
dadana en América Latina y Caribe. Barcelona/ Buenos Aires: Icaria/ Cries, 2008.
28
Galtung. Violence, Peace and Peace Research, p. 175.
29
Johan Galtung and Tord Höivik. “Structural and Direct Violence: A Note on
Operationalization”, Journal of Peace Research, 8(1), 1971, p. 73–76.
30
Adam Blackwell and Paulina Duarte. “Violence, Crime and Social Exclusion.” In:
Organization of American States (OAS). Inequality and social inclusion in the Americas: 14
essays. Washington, DC: OAS, 2014.
14 M. A. FERREIRA
the causes, there is unequal distribution of material goods or educa-

tional chances.31
A deeper look into the roots of the current South American society,
from the perspective of Peace Studies and beyond the nation-state as the
main level of analysis, will show that the region does not have a negative
or hybrid zone of peace. Nor are the possibilities of military tensions and
disputes the main sources of violent conflict. In the suburbs of large cities
overwhelmed by high rates of homicide and violence, the probability of
threat or attack by another army, or an analysis of whether armed forces
cooperate between them or not, are not the issues of utmost importance.
What emerges here as a key topic is the transnational flow of guns and
drugs that perpetuates a network that triggers direct violence between
thousands of people. The roots of this problem are connected to the cul-
tural and structural violence seen for centuries in these societies. Such
problems require a multidisciplinary view that takes into account histori-
cal, social, and economic data and factors.
Imbusch, Misse, and Carrión’s (2011) study on violence in Latin
America is an important contribution to the subject. They argue that a
detailed understanding of the reasons and causes which result in extensive
violence in the region is needed. Their study notes that “the factors pro-
posed to date include structural, societal, or personal background, pecu-
liarities of Latin American history or the history of single countries, high
rates of economic and social inequality and forms of social disintegration,
truncated modernization processes, and race, class, and poverty”.32
If Peace Studies is conceptualized as the study of the conditions of
peace work, South America, viewed through this lens, presents a mix of
internal political and criminal violence that must not be minimized by
academia through misperceptions anchored in an incorrect perception of
the concept of peace or according to approaches focused mostly on the
state. The 500 years of normalization of violence arising from the coloni-
zation period has led to indifference to the brutality plaguing the region.
The genesis of contemporary South American and Brazilian society took
31
Hubert Grotten and Jürgen Jansen. “Interpreters and Lobbies for Positive Peace”.
Journal of Peace Research, 18(2), 1981, p. 177.
32
Pierre Imbusch, Michel Misse and Fernando Carrión. “Violence Research in Latin
America and the Caribbean: A Literature Review”. International Journal of Conflict and
Violence, 5(1), 2011, pp. 87–154.
place within a framework of direct violence that confronted settlers, native

peoples, and slaves brought from Africa. The endless struggle of minori-
ties’ social movements shows that history left many open wounds and
trauma that persists, untreated, to the present day.
To understand such an environment, a satisfactory conceptual explana-
tion may be provided by the resumption of the concept of cultural vio-
lence as an analytical tool, especially concerning the presence of gender
and race prejudice.33 In the case of South American countries, the process
of legitimation of political independence from Spain or Portugal occurred,
in different contexts, through violent processes that increased the percep-
tion in the popular imagination of personal heroism of the leaders in the
independence political processes.34 Additionally, dictatorships in different
countries of the region extensively used violence as the main tool to
achieve legitimacy in such societies.
This broader picture makes it apparent that the study of conflict in
South America is an example of how simplistic measurements in the
human sciences, based only on interstate disputes, are insufficient for a
comprehensive analysis. Interpretative elements obtained by understand-
ing the social reality, such as the culture and social structures that foster
violence, are also necessary, especially the victimizing of subalterns within
a neoliberally oriented society. The absence of wars and conflicts can mean
peace between states, but the peace inside the states can simultaneously be
seriously in danger; conflicts can be linked to social issues, e.g., the conflict
in slums located in the Brazilian cities, and, more importantly, due to
criminal violence. Furthermore, this peace is also affected by transnational
phenomena that require cooperation among countries to reduce violence
domestically.
In this context, it is assumed here that the initial challenge academics
face while studying South American violence is to recognize that the vio-
lence rates and the feeling of insecurity in most of its cities are often equiv-
alent to conflict zones, and are configured as such. Negative peace between
countries does not translate into negative peace domestically. From this
33
“By ‘cultural violence’ we mean those aspects of culture, the symbolic sphere of our
existence—exemplified by religion and ideology, language and art, empirical science and
formal science (logic, mathematics)—that can be used to justify or legitimize direct or struc-
tural violence. Stars, crosses and crescents; flags, anthems and military parades; the ubiqui-
tous portrait of the Leader; inflammatory speeches and posters—all these come to mind.”
Johan Galtung, “Cultural violence,” Journal of Peace Research, 27(3), 1990, pp. 291–305.
34
Serbín, “Paz, violência y sociedad civil en América Latina y Caribe,” p. 14.
16 M. A. FERREIRA
perspective, an understanding of structural and cultural violence, jointly

with attention to transnational factors like drugs and arms trafficking, pro-
vides a more accurate picture of the tensions and disputes in the region.
Table 1.1 summarizes how Peace Studies perspective on the level of con-
flict in South America differs from other theoretical approaches.
Table 1.1 Comparing conflict and violence approaches towards South America
Approach/ State-centric Copenhagen School Human Security Peace Studies
Category
Current Negative Negative peace or Negative peace, Negative peace

condition peace, hybrid zone of peace, with challenges in between states; some
of South peace or zone moving towards a safeguarding social spaces do not
America of peace regional security individual rights experience even
complex negative peace (as
seen in some urban
poor
neighborhoods)
Central • Balance of • Regional • Human rights • Violence (direct,
concepts power Security • Human dignity structural, and
for analysis • Militarized Complex cultural)
disputes • Securitizing domestically and
(threats, agents internationally
tensions • Securitization/ • Quest for a
and/or desecuritization positive peace
wars) • Inequality and
violence
Level of State Primarily the Individual and Society
analysis state; secondly, society rights
non-state actors
when they
securitize an
object regionally
Top issues Interstate Securitized/ Individual • Criminality and its
to be tensions desecuritized security in its consequences
studied in issues within the multiple • Correlation
the region Regional Security dimensions between violence
Complex (economic, (structural,
health, food, cultural, and
environmental, direct) and
personal, transnational
community, and issues
policy)
Source: Elaborated by author

The study of South America from a Peace Studies perspective can offer
different means to grasp the region’s problems. In addition to the percep-
tion that the sub-region is far from enjoying even a negative peace, this
approach can focus on understanding the roots of the violence that impacts
society. Furthermore, a thorough analysis of the South American context
can show us that transnational issues, especially those related to organized
crime, are interconnected with structural and cultural violence in the
region and have a significant effect in each country—Brazil included.
Reflecting on South America Violence through

Peace Studies Perspectives
While Latin America’s governments highlight the peace between coun-
tries and the democratic character of politics in the region,35 to assert that
South America is a zone of peace seems illogical when the statement is
compared with the violence in the region.
Jenny Pearce explains that, when we examine the region it is “increas-
ingly difficult to ‘name’ its violences; they are violences outside of war, but
with comparably high levels of casualties. […]”. Regarding these vio-
lences, “some talk of armed social violence or non-conventional violence.
More than in any other region, Latin American violences require us to
think about the meanings that our ‘naming’ of violence seeks to clarify and
why”.36 Furthermore, the annual death toll in such places far exceeds
those on conventional battlefields,37 constituting a key obstacle to the
development of the region.38
Supported by chaotic urbanization and high levels of poverty,39 the
homicides rates in South America stand out as the highest among all
35
Kurtenbach, The limits of peace in Latin America, p. 11.
36
Jenny Pearce, Politics without Violence? Towards a Post-Weberian Enlightenment (Cham:
Palgrave Macmillan, 2020), p. 8.
37
Perea, Extreme violence without war.
38
Alessandra Heinemann and Dorte Verner, “Crime and Violence in Development: A
Literature Review of Latin America and the Caribbean” (Washington DC: World Bank
Policy Research Working Paper 4041, 2008), p. 6; Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira, “Criminality
and Violence in South America: The Challenges for Peace and UNASUR’s Response,”
International Studies Perspectives, 18(1), 64–80.
39
Roberto Briceño-León, “La violencia homicida en América Latina,” América Latina
Hoy (in Spanish, English summary), 50, 2008, p. 103–116; Imbusch et al., “Violence
Research in Latin America and the Caribbean”.
18 M. A. FERREIRA
regions of the globe, together with Central America.40 The homicide rate
among males aged 15 to 29 in South America and Central America is
more than four times the global average for that age/ sex group.41
Furthermore, an increase of almost 20 % in per capita income has not
influenced the homicide rate, which has remained virtually static since
1995, at an alarming level of 25 homicides per 100,000 inhabitants.42
While the homicide rate varies significantly among the South American
countries, the statistics regarding the high presence of diverse kinds of
violence are clear.43 According to UNODC, at one extreme we can find
Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela figuring in the top homicide rates. In
between, but with higher rates than the global average, are Bolivia,
Ecuador, Guyana, Paraguay, and Suriname. Meanwhile, countries like
Argentina, Chile, Uruguay, and Peru present lower homicide rates, slightly
below or around the global average.44
However, it is not only homicide rates that should be considered when
we analyze violence in South American societies. Even if we consider
countries with low homicide rates in the region, such as Argentina and
Chile, criminal violence is high measured by indicators like robbery and
car theft.45 The perception, reflecting a reality, that violence is present in
daily lives is also high, reaching almost 50 % of the population. Moreover,
as explained by Carlos Perea,46 the rates of armed robbery are the highest
in the world in these places. In addition, surveys on victimization show
40
UNODC—United Nations Office for Drugs and Crime. Global Study on Homicide
(Vienna: UNODC, 2020), Booklet 2, p. 11.
41
Ibid., Booklet 4, p. 34.
42
UNODC. Global Study on Homicide, 2020; UNODC—United Nations Office on
Drugs and Crime. Estimating illicit financial flows resulting from drug trafficking and other
transnational organized crimes (UNODC, Vienna, 2011), p. 35.
43
“While homicide data is typically more accessible than other types of armed violence
measures, it does not reflect non-fatal types of violence and crime, such as armed robberies,
kidnappings, assaults, sexual violence, or non-fatal firearm injuries […]. Furthermore, homi-
cides are rarely recorded as such if the body is not found[…]. Thus, although homicide rates
are useful proxies, they frequently under-count the actual numbers of deaths and only pro-
vide a partial picture of armed violence victimization.” Small Arms Survey—Graduate
Institute of International and Development Studies, 2012. Small Arms Survey 2012
(Cambridge University Press: Cambridge, 2012), p. 10.
44
UNODC. Global Study on Homicide, 2020, Booklet 2, p. 26–27.
45
UNDP—United Nations Development Program. Seguridad Ciudadana con Rostro
Humano: diagnóstico y propuestas para América Latina [Security Citizen with Human Face:
diagnostics and proposals for Latin America] (UNDP: New York, 2013), p. 52–67.
46
Perea, Extreme violence without war, p. 255.
that “65 % mentioned violence against women and 63 % against girls and
boys. This security crisis requires that 3.5 % of Gross National Product be
used to combat violences’ lethal effects on collective life in the region”.47
Thus, it is clear that South America confronts a serious problem of vio-
lence that goes beyond its direct manifestation.
Such a setting requires an understanding grounded in the very concept
of structural and cultural violence, as conceptualized by Galtung (1969,
1990).48 Firstly, in South America, there has been an uncontrolled growth
of urbanization, rising from 20 % to over 80 % in the last 50 years in some
countries. Moreover, the Gini index, a measure of social inequality, shows
that an increasing per capita income did not correspond to less structural
violence. The index remained stable or even deteriorated in some coun-
tries from 1990 to the present day: unequal growth of income maintained
a high rate of violent deaths; social inequality clearly has a robust link to
criminal and social violence.49 Furthermore, as explained by Adam
Blackwell and Paulina Duarte “not all people are equally affected by the
processes of social exclusion, violence, and crime, some groups, either as
victims or perpetrators, are particularly likely to be linked to contexts of
violence and crime as a result of processes of social exclusion”,50 included
here are young people and minorities. Thus, as Carlos Perea argues:
The very unequal distribution of material and symbolic goods feeds vio-
lence, conflictivity and criminality in Latin America. The networks of illegal-
ity offer money, opportunities and status (amongst peers), which an unjust
and unequal society cannot. Inequality feeds a profound sense of injustice.51
At the same time, the level of state violence has been very significant
since the first years of European colonization and continues nowadays to
undermine people’s confidence in political institutions. Police officers deal
47
Ibid.
48
Galtung, Violence, Peace and Peace Research; Galtung. Cultural Violence.
49
Kurtenbach, The limits of peace in Latin America, p. 10; Tani Adams. How Chronic
Violence Affects Human Development, Social Relations, and the Practice of Citizenship: A
Systematic Framework for Action (no. 36) (Washington: Woodrow Wilson Centre, 2017),
p. 12; Hanna Samir Kassab and Jonathan Rosen, Illicit Markets, Organized Crime, and
Global Security (Cham: Palgrave Macmillan, 2019), p. 123.
50
Adam Blackwell and Paulina Duarte, “Violence, Crime and Social Exclusion.” In:
Organization of American States (OAS). Inequality and social inclusion in the Americas: 14
essays. Washington, D.C.: OAS, 2014.
51
Perea, Extreme violence without war, p. 14.
20 M. A. FERREIRA
with criminality through the unwarranted use of lethal force.52 Torture

and beatings are common in prisons, even in countries with low homicide
rates such as Chile and Peru. As Rodriguez describes, “[t]he region’s pris-
ons are notoriously brutal and overcrowded. The homicide rate in prisons
in Latin America is three times higher than it is in the general population”.53
The social violence in the sub-continent is interconnected with another
global phenomenon: international narcotics and human trafficking.54 In
the 1990s, it was not only lawful activities that gained momentum from
economic globalization; so did criminal groups trying to develop several
illicit activities, such as the trafficking of drugs, arms, and humans. Monica
Herz argues that the tension between the domestic and the international
levels reproduced by the Westphalian system perpetuates the misguided
notion that the region is peaceful. The domestic front, in reality, is marked
“by intra-state war and transnational criminality. The reality is insulated
from the peaceful international realm where peace prevails. The region
thus is peaceful as an international space”,55 but not domestically. In this
regard, drug trafficking plays a key role.
Besides the high degree of social inequality and the normalization of
violence generated by historical factors such as violent colonization, the
region also has favorable climatic conditions and extensive farmland for
the cultivation of the raw material for two of the world’s most commonly
used illicit drugs: cocaine and marijuana. Adding to this the deprivation to
which socially marginalized groups are subjected and the result could not
be different. The growth of crime operates on a supply chain model, start-
ing with the producer of coca or marijuana leaf, passing through to the
purchase of illegal weapons and the exploitation of fragile borders to access
52
Tani Adams, Op. cit; HRW—Human Rights Watch. Lethal Force: Police Violence and
Public Security in Rio de Janeiro and São Paulo (New York: HRW, 2009); Martha Huggins.
“State Violence in Brazil: The Professional Morality of Torturers”. In: Susana Rotker and
Katherine Goldman (eds.). Citizens of Fear: urban violence in Latin America (New Jersey:
Rutgers University Press,2002).
53
Pedro Rodriguez, “Crime in Latin America: A Broken System.” The Economist, July
12, 2014. Available at: http://www.economist.com/news/americas/21606864-citizens-
security-regions-biggest-problem-time-improvecriminal-justice-broken
54
Hanna Samir Kassab and Jonathan Rosen, Illicit Markets, Organized Crime, and Global
Security, 2019; UNDP—United Nations Development Program. Seguridad Ciudadana con
Rostro Humano, 2014, p. 44.
55
Monica Herz, “Concepts of Security in South America”. International Peacekeeping,
17(5), 2010, p. 603.
different countries, and culminating in the consumption of a new addict

or the death of one more young South American linked to the drug war.56
Moreover, organized crime nowadays acts in a governance capacity, con-
trolling the lives of thousands of Brazilians and South Americans.57
Within this chain of violence there are a significant number of financial
flows feeding crime. According to UNODC, US$72 billion—equivalent
to 320 tons of cocaine—is moving annually from South America to Europe
and North America. While complete estimates of arms smuggling are lack-
ing, it is known that, annually, US$20 million in small arms are trafficked
to Mexico,58 and a growing market remains strong in countries like
Argentina, Colombia, Brazil, and Mexico.59 Most of these are light weap-
ons employed daily in organized crime.60
The combination of these elements creates in the region a zone with
several outbreaks of conflict. The Heidelberg Institute for International
Conflict Research (HIIK) has shown that interstate and subnational con-
flicts have been increasing annually over the last decade. Among the coun-
tries in South America, only Suriname and Uruguay have not experienced
associated social conflict. In all others, there are indicators of violent crisis,
and two countries (Brazil and Colombia) have limited war,61 while
Venezuela shows alarming violence indexes according to a more recent
analysis on South America violence.62
The data presented here do not only indicate the barriers to reaching
peace in the sub-continent; they also demonstrate how the flow of drugs,
56
Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira, “Transnational Organized Crime and Structural Violence in
Brazil.” In: Cristina Atieno and Collin Robinson (eds.), Post-conflict Security, Peace and
Development. Springer Briefs in Environment, Security, Development and Peace, vol 13
(Cham: Springer, 2019).
57
Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira and Oliver P. Richmond, “Blockages to Peace Formation in
Latin America: The Role of Criminal Governance.” Journal of Intervention and Statebuilding,
15(2), 2021, pp. 141–160; Rafael Duarte Villa, Camila de Macedo Braga, and Marcos Alan
S. V. Ferreira, “Violent Nonstate Actors and the Emergence of Hybrid Governance in South
America.” Latin American Research Review 56(1), 2021, pp. 36–49.
58
UNODC—United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime. Estimating illicit financial flows
resulting from drug trafficking and other transnational organized crimes (Vienna:
UNODC, 2011).
59
Kassab and Rosen, Illicit Markets, Organized Crime, and Global Security, pp. 139–140.
60
HIIK, Conflict Barometer 2018.
61
Ibid.
62
Kurtenbach, The limits of peace in Latin America; Perea. Extreme violence without war;
Perea and Pearce. Post war and nonwar violences.
22 M. A. FERREIRA
weapons, and money linked to transnational crime are important for

understanding the atmosphere of conflict existing in countless South
American suburbs. Understanding the conflict linked to transnational
issues and impelled by structural and cultural violence should be the next
step toward grasping the patterns of violent conflict seen in some corners
of the planet and, in particular, comprehending the length of the path
ahead for peacebuilding in South America. In this sense, Jenny Pearce and
Carlos Perea highlight the importance of “reducing violence and address-
ing the conditions of its reproduction, including the criminal economies
that have emerged in the region and deeply penetrated many social and
political as well as economic spheres of life, generating violences of all
kinds”.63 Furthermore, as indicated by Jordan Ryan, new conceptualiza-
tions are required to understand cases like South America, given that con-
flict has changed and this needs to be reflected in the future development
agenda in the search for a positive peace and the drastic reduction of struc-
tural violence.64
Thus, concepts from Peace Studies like positive peace, structural and
cultural violence, and a more holistic approach to conflict beyond the state
level, can provide fresh analysis of the challenges experienced by South
America. The region experiences a form of conflict linked to transnational
issues—e.g. drugs and arms trafficking—and impelled by inequality.
Hence, it is imperative to grasp how long is the path ahead.
While the concept of peacebuilding can be regarded as lacking in rele-
vance when the main concern is criminal violence, statistics indicate that
lethality related to this issue is higher or equivalent to war zones, justifying
the use of Peace Studies concepts in the study of violences like crime and
endemic homicides.65 In this context, thorough interpretative analysis and
ethnographies of violences are key to providing possibilities for a compre-
hensive peacebuilding for more than 400 million South Americans. The
discussion of peace in South America demands not only analysis of politi-
cal processes but also demands an examination of different social actors
63
Ibid., p. 6.
64
Jordan Ryan. Conflict has changed, and this needs to be reflected in the future development
agenda, United Nations Development Program (2013). Available in: http://www.undp.
org/content/undp/en/home/ourperspective/ourperspectivearticles/2013/08/02/con-
flict-has-changed-and-this-needs-to-be-reflected-in-the-future-development-agenda-jordan-
ryan.html. [Accessed 5 April 2020].
65
Jesse Banfield, Crime and Conflict: the new challenge for peacebuilding (London:
International Alert, 2014).
and spaces interconnected in the setting of violence, as the data above

clearly shows.
Final Remarks
This chapter set out to show how strict adherence to traditional theoreti-
cal assumptions in International Relations, especially those that regard
South America as a zone of peace, is inadequate in generating alternatives
to overcome an unequal social context. While state-centric arguments can
be empirically demonstrated when measuring violence between states, we
cannot neglect the everyday violence seen in urban areas and stimulated by
transnational elements such as arms and drugs trafficking.
South American societies experience the paradox of non-war and non-
peace. Rule of law, democratization, and free elections are not guarantees
of a peaceful society with low levels of violence. In some countries, such as
Chile and Uruguay, indicators of direct violence, such as homicide are
low; however, a lack of security and levels of violence against women and
minorities are high. Brazil, Colombia, and Venezuela, in particular, are
cases that present a blend of high direct, structural, and cultural violences
that result in thousands of deaths every year.
Consequently, the patterns of conflictivity and violence in South
America are complex and can be explained only partially by a state-centered
approach. It is unlikely that we will reach a more accurate analysis if we
focus exclusively on quantifiable dyads of militarized disputes understood
by statistical processes. The complexity of the question imposes a chal-
lenging interpretative task, grounded in qualitative approaches that require
a constant interdisciplinary dialogue from the analyst that takes into
account inequalities, a violent historical background, and resilient cultural
violence against minorities.
Such a perception also does not invalidate the application of other con-
cepts of International Relations like the Regional Security Complex. If an
emerging security community is achievable, it must be able to direct
debates toward the right issues, not merely the traditional issues of inter-
national security such as threats to sovereignty. The focus of diplomatic
discussions can lay a path for the construction of a positive peace in South
America, but the same applies to the human security approach, which can
provide a fruitful discussion on how individual rights can be secured in a
violent environment.
24 M. A. FERREIRA
Peace Studies offers a conceptual framework that can significantly

improve the study of violence in South America, including thinking about
conflict in a more comprehensive way, beyond the state level, and about
violence more broadly (direct, structural and cultural). The quest for a
positive peace is a dynamic one that involves overcoming structural vio-
lence. It takes decades—perhaps centuries—to reach a fair society; a pro-
cess that cannot be understood with an simple focus on the state.
Far from being a final word on the issue, it is expected that this chapter
open the possibility for a rediscovery of concepts such as positive and neg-
ative peace, as well as structural and cultural violence. An evolving devel-
opment of them will likely foster a fruitful interdisciplinary exchange that
unites the field of International Relations with peers from Sociology,
Anthropology, Demography, and Economics to broaden understanding
and devise solutions, as this book tries to do as the first step for further
research.
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Another random document with
no related content on Scribd:
General description and date of
structure.
The front room on the first floor has a well designed plaster
ceiling (Plate 79), the wall frieze being enriched with griffins, of a
slightly different type to those in No. 11. The chimneypiece is of white
marble with a central decorative panel.
The rear room on the same floor has also an ornamental
plaster ceiling of very simple design, and the white marble
chimneypiece is inlaid with Siena marble.
Condition of repair.
The premises are in good repair.
Biographical notes.
According to the ratebooks the first occupant of the house was Thos.
Hibbart, who resided there during 1780 and 1781. He was followed by Jas.
Bailey from 1782 to 1793, and from the latter year, Sir Alexander Monro was
in occupation.
In the Council’s collection are the
following:—
[734]Ornamental plaster ceiling in front room on first floor
(photograph).
Marble chimneypiece in front room on first floor (photograph).
Ornamental plaster ceiling in rear room on first floor (photograph).
LXXVI.—No. 15, BEDFORD SQUARE.
Ground landlord and lessee.
Ground landlord, His Grace the Duke of Bedford, K.G.;
lessees, the Associated Board of the Royal Academy of Music and the
Royal College of Music for Local Examinations in Music.
structure.
The front doorway (Plate 80), with its decorative leadwork
fanlight, is a typical example of the majority in the square.
The first floor front room has an ornamental plaster ceiling,
somewhat similar to others already noticed. There is an interesting
plaster cornice in the rear room of the same floor, and a carved
marble chimney piece on the second floor.
Biographical notes.
The occupants of this house, according to the ratebooks, were as
follows:—
1780–81. —— Pole.
1784–90. John Cologan.
1790–94. Jno. Stephenson.
1794–95. Mrs. Stephenson.
1795–98. Robt. Tubbs.
1798– Jas. Williams.
In the Council’s collection are:—
[735]Entrance
doorway (photograph).
Ornamental plaster ceiling in front room on first floor (photograph).
Marble chimneypiece in front room on second floor (photograph).
LXXVII.—No. 18, BEDFORD SQUARE.
Ground landlord and lessee.
Ground landlord, His Grace the Duke of Bedford, K.G.; lessee,
Herbert Sefton-Jones, Esq.
structure.
This house forms the eastern half of the central feature on the
north side of the square. Its interior has been considerably altered,
but the original carved white marble chimneypiece shown on Plate
81 still remains.
The motif of the central panel is similar to that at No. 11, but is
not quite so gracefully expressed. The shelf appears to be a modern
substitute, and out of harmony with the requirements of the design.
Biographical notes.
The earliest occupier of this house was, according to the ratebooks,
the Rev. Frederick Hamilton, who resided there from 1784 to 1786. In the
latter year he was succeeded by Thos. Hankey, who remained at the house
until after the close of the century.
In the Council’s collection is:—
[736]Marble chimneypiece in front room on ground floor
(photograph).
LXXVIII.—No. 23, BEDFORD SQUARE.
Ground landlord.
His Grace the Duke of Bedford, K.G.
structure.
This house was not in existence on 20th November, 1777,[737]
and the first mention of it in the parish ratebooks occurs in 1781. Few
of the decorations in the house are original, the two principal
exceptions being the plaster ceiling of the front room on the first
floor, and a fine doorcase and pair of doors (Plate 82), connecting
that room with the one in the rear.

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Civil Action and the Dynamics of Violence Deborah Avant

Hong Kong Media. Interaction Between Media, State and

Peace and Violence

More information about this series at

Peace and Violence

ISSN 1759-3735 ISSN 2752-857X (electronic)

Cover illustration © MC Richmond

Thanks to all my colleagues that contributed to this manuscript.

Part I Understanding Challenges to Peace in Brazil:

1 Peace and Violence in South America: From Security

2 Conflict Over Peace in the Southern Cone Borderlands:

3 Contemporary Patterns of Violence and the Inside/

4 Transnational Organized Crime and the Role of the

Part II Peaceful Responses to Overcome Social Violence

5 The Sustainable Development Goals as a Peace Agenda:

6 Practices to Build Peace in Times of Crisis: Experiences

7 Favela Peace Formation in a Violent State: Perspectives

8 Gun Policy, Violence, and Peace: Examining the Challenges

André Duffles Teixeira Aranega is Research Assistant in the Security

Marcos Alan Ferreira is an Associate Professor in the Department of

Augusto W. M. Teixeira Júnior is Assistant Professor in the Department

Table 1.1 Comparing conflict and violence approaches towards South

The contours of violence in Brazil from a historical perspective show

Violence is also fostered by transnational networks of sophisticated orga-

Examining Brazil through the Lenses of Peace

this setting of violence experienced in Brazil at different levels, from local

Structure and Contents

Understanding Challenges to Peace

Peace and Violence in South America:

Marcos Alan Ferreira

This research was partially funded by Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento

© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature 3

If violence is studied beyond interstate tensions and the focus is shifted

evaluating concrete policies; and (3) constructive peace research, which

Peace, Violence and Conflicts in South America

Given its influence in International Relations, it is not surprising that the

Jorge Battaglino argues that South America is on a path towards being

has been an era of relative peace. If we compare it to the record of war in

However, this criticism should not lead to neglect of the theoretical

Alternatives to a New Analytical Framework

The comprehension of patterns of conflict and violence in South America,

The complexity of the question imposes a challenging interpretative task

There seems to be an exhaustion or conceptual saturation of these binomial

Surprisingly, analyses of violence in South America applying Peace

mankind, creating steep gradients in degree of integration and willingness

conflict (…) indicates a situation within a social system in which irreconcil-

the causes, there is unequal distribution of material goods or educa-

place within a framework of direct violence that confronted settlers, native

perspective, an understanding of structural and cultural violence, jointly

Current Negative Negative peace or Negative peace, Negative peace

Source: Elaborated by author

Reflecting on South America Violence through

with criminality through the unwarranted use of lethal force.52 Torture

different countries, and culminating in the consumption of a new addict

weapons, and money linked to transnational crime are important for

Part I Understanding Challenges to Peace in Brazil:

1 Peace and Violence in South America: From Security

2 Conflict Over Peace in the Southern Cone Borderlands:

3 Contemporary Patterns of Violence and the Inside/

4 Transnational Organized Crime and the Role of the

Part II Peaceful Responses to Overcome Social Violence

5 The Sustainable Development Goals as a Peace Agenda:

6 Practices to Build Peace in Times of Crisis: Experiences

7 Favela Peace Formation in a Violent State: Perspectives

8 Gun Policy, Violence, and Peace: Examining the Challenges