Governments across the developing world rely on their armed forces for domestic policing operations. Advocates of these “mano dura” (iron fist) policies view them as necessary to control crime, while detractors claim they undermine human rights. We experimentally evaluate a military policing intervention in Cali, Colombia, the country’s third largest city and among its most violent. The intervention involved recurring, intensive military patrols targeting crime hot spots, randomly assigned at the city block level. Using administrative crime and human rights data, surveys, a conjoint survey experiment, a costly behavioral measure, qualitative interviews, and firsthand observations from civilian monitors, we find some suggestive evidence that military policing reduces crime, but only on days and times when soldiers are physically present on the streets. Despite these weak or null effects, we find strong evidence of increased demand for more aggressive military involvement in policing and other aspects of governance, including increased support for military coups. We also find some suggestive evidence of increased human rights abuses committed by police officers in particular a large, significant, and lasting increase in citizens’ reports of witnessing crime, and a correspondingly large, significant, and lasting increase in their willingness to report crimes to the authorities. We interpret this as evidence of increased vigilance by citizens and increased coproduction of security not just between the military and the police, but between civilians and the authorities as well.

Register to attend: https://bit.ly/3kLlHCT

Michael Weintraub is an Associate Professor in the Escuela de Gobierno Alberto Lleras Camargo at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia; Director of the Security and Violence Area of the Center for the Study of Security and Drugs (CESED) at the same university; and Senior Researcher at Peace Research Institute Oslo (PRIO). His research agenda focuses on crime and political violence in Latin America, particularly in Colombia, Central America, and Mexico. He is also interested in historical legacies of violence and how they affect contemporary outcomes. To study these and other topics he uses a combination of experimental and quasi-experimental methods, as well as qualitative case studies. While he wrote my dissertation on Colombia, and live in Bogotá, he also studies Mexico and the three countries in the so-called "Northern Triangle" of Central America: El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. Prior to graduate school,heI worked for three years on human rights and development, primarily in East and Southern Africa. In May 2014 he received my Ph.D. in Government from Georgetown University and has been a Predoctoral Fellow at Yale University’s Program on Order, Conflict, and Violence (2013-2014) and a Jennings Randolph Peace Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace (2012-2013). He was an Assistant Professor of Political Science at Binghamton University (SUNY) from 2014-2016. His articles have been published or are forthcoming in the Journal of Politics, Journal of Conflict Resolution, Journal of Peace Research, Conflict Management and Peace Science, Terrorism and Political Violence, Research & Politics, Journal of Theoretical Politics, and Critical Review.

Robert A. Blair is an Assistant Professor of Political Science and International and Public Affairs at Brown University. His research focuses on international intervention and the consolidation of state authority after civil war, with an emphasis on rule of law and security institutions. He also coordinates the Democratic Erosion consortium, which spans over 50 universities in the US, UK, Ireland, Israel, Turkey, Romania, South Korea, Australia, and the Philippines. The consortium combines research, teaching, and civic and policy engagement to address threats to democracy in the US and around the world.

Cosponsored by Latino/a Studies Program, Latin American Studies Program, and Comparative Literature

Melissa Castillo Planas' most recent book project, with Rutgers University Press’ new Global Race and Media series, A Mexican State of Mind: New York City and the New Borderlands of Culture, examines the creative worlds and cultural productions of Mexican migrants in New York City within the context of a system of racial capitalism that marginalizes Mexican migrants via an exploitative labor market, criminalizing immigration policy, and racialized systems of surveillance. Her second book of poetry, Chingona Rules is forthcoming with Finishing Line Press in summer 2021.

Melissa Castillo Planas is an Assistant Professor of English at Lehman College specializing in Latinx Literature and Culture. She is the author of the poetry collection Coatlicue Eats the Apple, editor of the anthology, ¡Manteca!: An Anthology of Afro-Latin@ Poets, co-editor of La Verdad: An International Dialogue on Hip Hop Latinidades and co-author of the novel, Pure Bronx.

http://www.melissacastilloplanas.com

In the past 15 years, emerging markets (EM) have come to represent the largest share of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and made gains in economic development and political influence; in turn, their companies have taken on a new level of importance in driving innovation, local development and global competition. We want to invite a conversation about diverse types of innovation in emerging markets and present some findings of the book From Copycat to Leaders: Innovation from Emerging Markets.

This is a second time during 24 February to meet the leaders if you couldn't make the 11am session. Sarayaku’s Kichwa communities were central to Ecuador’s first National Indigenous Uprising in 1990 and are at the forefront of indigenous rights mobilization. Come listen to four leaders from Sarayaku's indigenous communities (Abigail Gualinga, Mario Santi, Yaku Viteri, and Fausto Santi) and learn more about indigenous cosmologies & human rights frameworks.

This event is co-sponsored by Cornell University Latin American Studies Program with funding from a Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Language (UISFL) grant from the U.S. Department of Education, the Committee on US Latin American Relations (CUSLAR) at Cornell, the Cornell Law School, the American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS) program at Cornell, and with a partial funding from the Cornell Student Activities Funding Committee (SAFC)

For Session II, register here: https://bit.ly/3qpj6kg

In the last three decades, the Brazilian constitutional experience has moved towards the adoption of a model of judicial supremacy, in which the Supreme Court has the prerogative to give the last word on the attribution of meaning to constitutional norms. With the rise of a government of judges, the Supreme Court began to directly interfere in the political decision-making of the Legislative and Executive Powers. This talk intends to expose the process of development of the superpowers of the Brazilian Supreme Court, the rise and fall of its democratic legitimacy and the reactions adopted by the Legislative Power in order to rebalance the relationship between the branches.

Daniel Hachem is Professor of Public Law at the Pontifical Catholic University of Paraná (PUCPR) and at the Federal University of Paraná (UFPR) – Brazil. Visiting Professor at the Sorbonne Law School (2018-2020). Doctor of Law – Federal University of Paraná. Postdoctoral Fellowship at Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne (2017). Director General of NUPED – Center for Research on Public Policy and Human Development at PUCPR. Member of the Ibero-American Forum of Administrative Law and the Public Law Association of Mercosur. Website: www.danielhachem.com

Registration link: https://bit.ly/2Ml5IPi

The Language Resource Center offers grants for effective and innovative projects that enhance language instruction at Cornell. We welcome proposals from all languages and all levels of instruction. Lecturers, senior lecturers, and professors who are involved with language teaching and do not have visiting status are eligible to apply. Graduate students are also eligible to apply, working under the supervision of a faculty member.

Details at https://lrc.cornell.edu/funding-research

The Latin American Studies Program (LASP) invites Cornell Faculty, Staff, Graduate and Undergraduate Students, to attend in its Annual Research Symposium on February 20, 2021. The event is a great opportunity to hear about research related to Latin America in a number of varied disciplines and in different stages of development. We also will have one panel of Undergraduates who did Digital Internships with Brazil and Ecuador, come hear and apply yourself to do a digital internship this Summer’21 (rising sophomores, juniors and seniors). All members of the greater Latin American and Caribbean community at Cornell are encouraged to attend, including undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty. Register here. Click here for Full Symposium Program

Hosted by Cornell’s Emerging Markets Institute, the Emerging Markets Webinar Series is a monthly initiative that highlights key concepts and ideas occurring in emerging markets. The theme for 2021 is “Building Bridges and Encouraging Dialogue,” with online sessions profiling four emerging markets: Africa, Latin America, India, and China. The goal of the webinar series is to engage and educate the community about emerging trends worldwide, aided by a panel of economic development experts on each region.

The first session in the series showcases Africa, as four panelists discuss the challenges and opportunities presented by this exciting emerging market.

Sarayaku’s Kichwa communities were central to Ecuador’s first National Indigenous Uprising in 1990 and are at the forefront of indigenous rights mobilization. Come listen to four leaders from Sarayaku's indigenous communities and learn more about indigenous cosmologies & human rights frameworks. Come listen to four leaders from Sarayaku's indigenous communities (Abigail Gualinga, Mario Santi, Yaku Viteri, and Fausto Santi) and learn more about indigenous cosmologies & human rights frameworks.

Registration required: https://bit.ly/3anacht

Co-Sponsors: American Indian and Indigenous Studies (AIIS), Latin American Studies Program, funded in part by its UISFL grant funding from the U.S. Department of Education, CUSLAR (Committee on U.S. Latin American Relations), and the Cornell Law School

For more informaton and a beautiful film check this out: https://amazonwatch.org/work/sarayaku