Violence and Justice in UNASUR’s Institutional History. From the Early Optimism to the Fragile Cooperation Combating Criminality
Autor | Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira - Rodrigo de Souza Framento |
Cargo | B. A. in Social Sciences. M. A. in International Relations. PhD in Political Science. Professor and researcher in Centro de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil. E–mail: marcosferreira@ccsa.ufpb.br – Orcid https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3196-6508 – Google Scholar https://scholar.google.es/citations?hl=es&user=_uCMGDUAAAA |
Violence and Justice in UNASUR's Institutional History. From the Early Optimism to the Fragile Cooperation Combating Criminality *
Violencia y justicia en la historia institucional de Unasur. Desde el optimismo inicial hasta la frágil cooperación para combatir la criminalidad
Marcos Alan S. V. Ferreira1 (Brazil)
Rodrigo de Souza Framento2 (Brazil)
1 B. A. in Social Sciences. M. A. in International Relations. PhD in Political Science. Professor and researcher in Centro de Ciências Sociais Aplicadas, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil. E–mail: marcosferreira@ccsa.ufpb.br – Orcid https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3196-6508 – Google Scholar https://scholar.google.es/citations?hl=es&user=_uCMGDUAAAAJ
1 B.A. in International Relations. Research Associate in the Center for Studies in Peace and Ethics in International Relations, Universidade Federal da Paraíba, Brazil. E–mail: rodrigoframento@hotmail.com
Fecha de recepción: October 2018
Fecha de aprobación: March 2019
Cómo citar este artículo: Ferreira, Marcos Alan S. V. & Framento, Rodrigo de Souza. (2019). Violence and Justice in UNASUR's Institutional History. From the Early Optimism to the Fragile Cooperation Combating Criminality. Estudios Políticos (Universidad de Antioquia), 55. http://doi.org/10.17533/udea.espo.n55a05
Abstract
This paper aims to understand how the Union of South American Nations (UNASUR) has worked (or not) to promote policies to make progress in the fight against crime, criminal justice and citizen security in the period between 2012 and 2017. Although South America is regarded as a peaceful region by some researchers when it comes to interstate conflict, when looking at intrastate violence the region may be viewed as one of the most violent in the world. In this context, it is crucial to understand the role of regional organizations. Our work was grounded on the documental analysis of 34 minutes and official documents of the South American Council on Public Security, Justice and Coordination of Actions against Transnational Organized Crime (CSSCJDOT) of UNASUR. The results demonstrate that the CSSCJDOT was an innovation in bringing the debate of crime and violence to a regional organization, but its initial promises have not been fulfilled because of political changes in key member states, the excess of normativism in UNASUR and because of the crisis the organization currently undergoes.
Keywords: International Relations; Cooperation; Regionalism; Sovereignty; Violence; Organized Crime.
Resumen
Este artículo tiene como objetivo comprender cómo la Unión de Naciones Suramericanas (Unasur) ha estado trabajando para promover políticas que avancen en la lucha contra el crimen, la justicia penal y la seguridad ciudadana en el periodo 2012–2017. Aunque se considera que Sudamérica es pacífica según algunos investigadores, cuando se tiene en cuenta la violencia dentro del Estado la región puede considerarse una de las más violentas del mundo. En este contexto, es fundamental comprender el papel de las organizaciones regionales. Para este artículo se realizó un análisis de 34 documentos oficiales del Consejo Sudamericano de Seguridad Pública, Justicia y Coordinación de Acciones contra la Delincuencia Organizada Transnacional (CSSCJDOT) de Unasur. Los resultados demuestran que CSSCJDOT fue una innovación para llevar el debate del crimen y la violencia a una organización regional, pero sus promesas iniciales no se cumplieron debido a los cambios políticos en los Estados miembros clave, el exceso de normativismo en Unasur y la crisis que actualmente vive la organización.
Palabras clave: Relaciones Internacionales; Cooperación; Regionalismo; Soberanía; Violencia; Crimen Organizado.
Introduction
Although South America is recognized as a zone of peace given the small number of interstate wars in recent history (Kacowicz, 1998; Holsti, 1996), the acute presence of crime in the region can be seen as one of its main problems. In this context, it is noteworthy that the main regional organization in South America in 2000s—Union of South American Nations (UNASUR)—is pioneer in creating a council dedicated to create cooperative processes for promoting justice and fighting crime: The South American Council on Public Security, Justice and Coordination of Actions against Transnational Organized Crime (CSSCJDOT) (Ferreira, 2017a).
Given this scenario, the aim of this paper is to explore the initial cooperation processes created by the agency in South America, oriented by the following question: has CSSCJDOT been institutionalized as an effective regional forum to combat the endemic violence in South America? As it will be seen along the article, while violence is one of the main challenges to South American society, the CSSCJDOT unfortunately could not accomplish its goals. The ambition to create an effective cooperation was blocked by political changes in member states, as well as by an ambiguous approach by states regarding regional cooperation. At the same time, South American states try to create norms and regimes to regulate cooperation, but they are still attached to a traditional view on sovereignty.
Our historical analysis is based on qualitative research of official documents (minutes, reports and releases) of the CSSCJDOT, provided by the Digital Repository site of UNASUR. In the research we collected 43 documents provided by the platform or through direct contact with UNASUR secretaries from July 2012 through March 2017. Among these documents, we found 34 fit for our analysis based on our research question (see Table 1). The analysis of the material was made through a qualitative method of content analysis, based on the conceptual framework of Peace Studies.
Table 1. UNASUR's Documents analyzed for this research.
Source: Collected from UNASUR (n.d.).
This paper is divided into six parts. After this introduction, we explain the theoretical and contextual framework that...
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