Rescaling security in Latin America: Reading the interurban network “Citizen Safety in Towns” as an intervention into local power relations

Abstract

Over the last 30 years, Latin American cities have witnessed substantial processes of political re-engineering. Since the 1980s, the return to democratic state forms, together with processes of political decentralization and neo-liberalization, have increased the importance of municipalities in the handling of urban affairs. In this context, new political structures and processes have emerged that in the social sciences are discussed as “local” or “urban governance”.