Everyday Security Practices in Gang-Controlled Neighborhoods in San Salvador

Research output: Contribution to journalArticleAcademicpeer-review

Abstract

This article looks at the everyday security practices of local residents in violent local orders, where capacities and strategies of state and non-state armed actors to produce regularity and stability are weak and contested. It discusses the case
of gang-controlled neighborhoods in the metropolitan area of Greater San Salvador,
El Salvador, in the years 2017–2018, when security “provision” of armed state and
nonstate actors was weak and contested, and as a result civilians mostly took care of
themselves. The article analyzes the main characteristics of local violent orders, the
insecurity experiences of local residents, and the everyday practices of local residents
to deal with these circumstances. It argues that in neighborhoods where security provision by state and non-state actors is weak and contested, everyday security practices of
local residents are key to understanding the functioning and reproduction of the local
forms of “disordered order.”
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)1-20
Number of pages20
JournalConflict and Society
Volume9
Issue number1
Early online date1 Dec 2022
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Jun 2023

Bibliographical note

Funding Information:
Research for the article was funded with a grant from the Gerda Henkel Stiftung (GHS). The research was part of a collaboration with Dr. Alexandra Abello Colak of the London School of Economics, who worked on the case of Medellin, Colombia. This article greatly benefited from our collaboration. Earlier drafts of the article were presented at the Third Annual Conference of the European Initiative on Security Studies, Sciences Po, Paris, 27–28 June 2019, and at the Virtual Congress of the Latin America Studies Association, 13–16 May 2020. I thank the discussants at these conferences for their valuable input. Adrian Bergmann and Carlos W. Moreno assisted in the literature review. Michelle Melara transcribed interviews and made an analysis of newspaper articles. I also would like to thank the anonymous reviewers for their comments. The responsibility for the article and any errors or omissions therein is entirely mine.

Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s)

Keywords

  • Central America
  • everyday security practices
  • street gangs
  • violent local order

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