Tuesday Seminar in Latin American Politics
Date and Time
Political Violence as a Vocation: How Politicians Shape Citizens’ Demand for Police Repression
Police violence against marginalized groups persists in many democracies. Yet, democratically-elected leaders may lack incentives to curb it because repressive policing often enjoys widespread support, and views toward police violence often mirror cleavages like partisanship and race. We posit that politicians leverage polarized attitudes toward police violence through repression-based appeals, justifying state coercion beyond the rule of law by framing marginalized groups as security threats. Using a survey experiment in Brazil, our results show that politicians derive political benefits from repression-based appeals through improved perceptions of competence, and pay a cost for criticizing police violence, particularly when they defy partisan expectations. We further demonstrate that politicians’ statements defending police violence can increase support for such killings, with important partisan heterogeneity. Our findings reveal that police violence is political violence: rather than representing an aberration or “bad apples,” politicians have incentives to strategically leverage repression-based appeals for political gain.
Speaker
- Yanilda Gonzalez, Faculty Associate. Ford Foundation Associate Professor of Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School.
Moderator
- Steven Levitsky, Faculty Associate; Harvard Academy Senior Scholar. David Rockefeller Professor of Latin American Studies, Department of Government; Director, David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University.
Contact
Paola Ibarra
pibarra@fas.harvard.edu
This event is organized by the David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies.