Research, ideas, and leadership for a more secure, peaceful world

Past Event
Seminar

True Friend or Treacherous Friend? The Impact of Criminal Group Alliance Behavior on Intrastate Violence

Open to the Public

Drawing on extensive field research in Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador, and Canada, this seminar presents a theoretical framework at the intersection of international relations theory and comparative politics, linking inter-criminal organization alliance formation and termination to the outbreak and persistence of high-intensity criminal violence.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.

Date: Time: - Location: Littauer Building - Belfer Center Library, Room 369
This image highlights states in which the fighting in the Mexican Drug War is most intense, 2 May 2007.

About

Violent inter-criminal group rivalry is disruptive for both licit and illicit businesses, the government and the lives of ordinary citizens, presenting us with a puzzle. If a low-intensity violence environment born out of inter-cartel cooperation or non-aggression is "good for business," then why do criminal organizations escalate violence to extreme levels, and why does high-intensity criminal violence become protracted in some cases and not in others?

Drawing on extensive field research in Mexico, Colombia, El Salvador, and Canada, this seminar presents a theoretical framework at the intersection of international relations theory and comparative politics, linking inter-criminal organization alliance formation and termination to the outbreak and persistence of high-intensity criminal violence.

Please join us! Coffee and tea provided. Everyone is welcome, but admittance will be on a first come–first served basis.