Abstract

BERGMANN, Adrian. Glass Half Full? The Peril and Potential of Highly Organized Violence. rev.estud.soc. [online]. 2020, n.73, pp.31-43. ISSN 0123-885X.  https://doi.org/10.7440/res73.2020.03.

Throughout the twenty-first century, El Salvador has been immersed in a crisis of armed violence, largely explained by an exceptionally high degree of organization of armed violence by three gangs, the police, and the armed forces. I trace the processes of organization and escalation of armed violence in the country, and address the potential for harnessing these organizations

to constrain armed violence, as evidenced twice in the past decade, when gangs reined in the wars between them and reduced homicides by half. I a nalyze the organizational conditions that make this possible and the political conditions necessary to bridge short-term violence reduction and a long-term political vision and policy framework for social transformation.

Keywords : Armed violence; El Salvador; gangs; homicide reduction; politics of violence; state violence.

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