Resumen

ARGUETA, OTTO. Community Policing in Guatemala: Continuity in Self-Defence?. Rev. cienc. polít. (Santiago) [online]. 2015, vol.35, n.3, pp.559-580. ISSN 0718-090X.  http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0718-090X2015000300005.

In Latin America, community policing programmes have increased during the last twenty years. The programmes were expected to reduce crime and strengthen collaborative relations between police and population, among others. However, an excessive focus on technical aspects has neglected counterproductive effects on democracy and the rule of law. Based on a historical institutionalism approach, this paper critically analyses the concept of community policing and argues that wider socio-political contexts and institutional patterns of self-defence policing determine the outcomes of community policing programmes. By examining the case of Guatemala, this paper concludes that community policing has contributed to reinforce antidemocratic patterns through the reproduction of self-defence mechanisms created during the years of internal conflict.

Palabras clave : Community policing; Guatemala; history; historical institutionalism.

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