How criminal groups strengthen the State: The linkage between criminal groups and the State in Latin America

Democratization processes in Latin America as well as the effects of Neoliberal policies – among them the downsizing of the role of the state in economic and social welfare programs – have been accompanied with an increase in crime and violence. To response to societal inequalities and violence alternative political and social groups have emerged, such as youth gangs and drug cartels, which in part take over state tasks and weaken state legitimacy, but on the other hand are very much intertwined with state actors and increases their power.
This paper will first define contemporary violence in the region and discusses the characteristics and explanatory factors. Then, I will look at the linkage between criminal groups and the state in Latin America. First, I will show how criminal organized groups in Latin America have eroded or taken over the state’s monopoly over the means of coercion and hold the potential to undermine national state-based sovereignties. Second, to challenge the explanation that criminal organizations have filled the voids of the absent state and make the state weaker, I will argue that an osmotic relation exists between criminal groups, state institutions and political leaders, in order to keep in place the institutions and policies that neoliberal democracies created. I will give examples of such osmotic relations between the state and criminal groups from a variety of Latin American countries, such as Guatemala, Nicaragua, Jamaica and the Dominican Republic.