Seminar: Violence, security and politics: Perspectives on current challenges in Brazil (København)

In São Paulo, Brazil, it is not only the government that produces ‘security policies’ and tries to combat crime. The single hegemonic criminal faction ‘the First Command of the City’ (known as the PCC) has since their establishment in the 1990’s claimed the role of guarantor of order and operator of justice for different groups and territories, particularly in the urban peripheries in São Paulo. As a result, the city saw the most important reduction of homicide rates in the country, amounting to about 70% during the 2000s. As São Paulo has become a central place for transnational illegal markets such as drugs and guns trafficking, smuggling and stolen cars, the PCC now regulates both criminal conduct and prices on the illegal markets.             

This public seminar focuses on the role of the PCC, and what it means for (in)security in Brazil. Based on more than 10 years of research on the topic, the seminar’s invited speaker, Professor Gabriel de Santis Feltran, provides a new perspective on ‘urban violence’ as evolving through the entanglement of state security policies and local dynamics of transnational illegal economies.

Speakers

Gabriel de Santis Feltran, Professor, Federal University of São Carlos, Brazil

Frida Sofie Gregersen, PhD Student, DIIS

Finn Stepputat, Senior Researcher, DIIS

Marie Kolling, Postdoctoral Research Fellow, DIIS

Programme

14.00-14.15: Introduction and presentation
Frida Sofie Gregersen

14.15-15.00: The PCC and the crime-security machine in Brazil
Gabriel de Santis Feltran

15.00-15.10: Comments
Finn Stepputat

15.10-15.20: Comments
Marie Kolling

15.20-16.00: Discussion

Practical information

The seminar will be in English.  

Participation is free of charge, but registration is required. Please use our online registration form no later than Wednesday 26 June 2019 at 10.00.

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