The nexus between security and development: an analysis of pacification and exceptional security politics in the combat of organized crime in Rio de Janeiro

Abstract

In the field of International Relations, it is possible to notice an increase in the literature that seeks to emphasize the transnationality and transversality of several issues, such as organized crime. In practice, the nebulous zone between internal and external, national and international, crime and war has been used as a justification for “exceptional” security practices related to the idea of pacification. Pacification is understood as practices of a markedly civilizing character that associate the use of violence with a discourse of security assurance and order maintenance as an essential aspect for development. Given the above, the aim of this paper is to explore the nexus between security and development in pacification practices related to current security policies, especially those related to organized crime. The argument put forward is that this nexus has often been used to justify pacification practices and exceptional security policies that ultimately criminalize and harass specific social categories. The analysis is based on Michel Foucault, Didier Bigo, and Jef Huysmans’s theoretical and methodological considerations and focuses on security policies mobilized in Rio de Janeiro.