chapter 4 - DRK

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Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)84CHAPTER 4Unconsolidatedstate formation and weak political institutionsCountries undergoing a transition to democracy, emerging from periods of authoritarianrule or recovering from internal conflict are particularly vulnerable to high levels of urbanviolence. In the past, political authority may have been monopolized by a dominant rulingclass or coalition of powerful groups. This culture of monopolizing power and limitingaccess to other groups has frequently led to political instability and populism, sometimesprecipitating a crisis of legitimacy. These countries also tend to have weak political institutionswith multiple and often competing centres of power. When regimes are paralysedby divisions and state–elite conflicts, critical judicial and economic reforms, which arenecessary to consolidate democratic transitions, promote economic growth and developa genuine social contract, become impossible because they threaten the vested interestsof elites. Unreformed judicial systems remain politicized and corrupt and are often overwhelmedby the rise in crime and the demands of international counterterrorism andcounter-narcotics campaigns. Failure to respond effectively to rising crime and violencecreates a chain reaction as impunity destroys the credibility of the law enforcement systemand this in turn erodes its capacity for deterrence. This inhibits economic growth andundermines state capacity to deliver basic services, contributing to a worsening of theconditions of deprivation and inequality that drive people to commit violent acts.When the effectiveness of the law does not apply to all citizens and groups, or to all theterritory of the state, the state loses its authority. Impunity also contributes to a cultureof excessive force or brutality by police in poor neighbourhoods, including the practiceof torture and even summary execution of crime suspects from slum or shanty town settlements.Police have been known to target entire communities rather than individualoffenders, so that civilians view them as ‘enforcers’ and not protectors. These crimes oftengo unpunished. Data from the US State Department and Amnesty International showthat in 2006, extrajudicial killings accounted for more than 50 deaths in 31 countries. Inthe favelas of Rio de Janeiro, military police combat drug gangs by conducting violent massraids, turning neighbourhoods into urban battlefields. According to the UN Special Rapporteur,Brazilian police declared extrajudicial killings and summary executions to be “actsof resistance followed by death”, and recorded 1,330 of these ‘resistance killings’ in 2008.ExclusionGovernment failure to provide essential public goods leads to exclusion. For thewealthy this situation is often pre-empted by self-exclusion as they choose to hire privatesecurity forms, send their children to private schools or seek medical treatmentand preventive healthcare at private hospitals. But this self-exclusion only compoundsthe government’s failure and contributes to the creation of a different class of citizen,an underclass with little access to basic human needs, living on the fringes of anelite society whose opulence it can only access on a satellite TV channel. Research hasshown that the urban poor feel rejected by society, discriminated against and systematicallydenied the opportunities to improve their quality of life. This discriminationis internalized and expressed in lack of confidence in the state and its institutions
Strictly under embargo until Wednesday 22 September at 00:01 GMT (02:01 Geneva time)and in a sense of hopelessness for the future. Research also demonstrates that thissystematic segregation of the poor entrenches and perpetuates poverty over generations.One Latin American expert refers to a “dissident conscience” which develops inmarginalized urban communities and is commonly expressed through violence. Whenthe excluded and the marginalized look around and see business owners evading tax,politicians buying votes and appointing family members and friends to public posts,or using public money for personal gain, they lose confidence in the institutions of thestate and begin to question what they gain from obeying the law.StrategiesThe recently passed benchmark – more than half the world’s population living inurban centres – served to focus international attention on a major crisis that has notbeen adequately addressed until now. Thus far, solutions to the problems of urbanviolence have been scattershot and poorly financed, with little in-depth evaluation ofwhat works and what doesn’t.Asking the police and criminal justice system to fix everything may only make mattersworse. A broad-based response looks at better urban planning, effective and inclusivelocal governance, community involvement, reform of police and judicial systems, educationand jobs for youth, effective international laws against organized crime, disarmamentand gun awareness, and tailored responses to the specific circumstances ofeach particular local context.Meaningful citizen involvement in local governance is key to reducing urban violence.The social contract between the state and society is based on an active dialogue aboutthe expectations that citizens have of the state, its capacity to provide services, includingsecurity, and to secure revenue from its population and territory to provide theseservices. In addition, because people’s needs and expectations of the state evolve overtime and the state’s capacity and resources are impacted by changes in both domesticand international political and financial conditions, this dialogue needs to be continuallyrevisited and the agreement updated. A fundamental precondition for an effectivesocial contract, therefore, is a set of effective political institutions and processesthrough which the state and its citizens can engage, consult and dialogue to renegotiateand reinstitutionalize aspects of the contract.As the government representatives closest to the people, strong local leaders can increase astate’s legitimacy. Local authorities that engage with constituents, respond to their needsand include them in decision-making can build trust in the community and encourageinter-group dialogue to ease any tensions. At the same time, community involvementin urban planning, service provision and violence-reduction strategies increasesthe chances that they will work. To ensure they can deliver on their commitments,municipal governments need to have enough autonomy and resources to act effectively.World Disasters Report 2010 – Focus on urban risk85
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214INDEXStrictly under embargo unti
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The International Federationof Red
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