Hostname: page-component-78c5997874-s2hrs Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-10T11:38:24.825Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Migrant Remittances and Violent Responses to Crime in Latin America and the Caribbean

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  13 May 2021

Ana Isabel López García Open the ORCID record for Ana Isabel López García [Opens in a new window]  and
Barry Maydom Open the ORCID record for Barry Maydom [Opens in a new window]
Ana Isabel López García
Affiliation:
Ana Isabel López García is a postdoctoral researcher at the Chair of Conflict and Development in the Department of Politics and Public Administration, University of Konstanz, Konstanz, Germany. ana.lopez-garcia@uni-konstanz.de.
Barry Maydom
Affiliation:
Barry Maydom is a lecturer in politics in the Department of Politics, Birkbeck, University of London, London, UK. b.maydom@bbk.ac.uk.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

High levels of crime are a key driver of emigration from Latin America and the Caribbean. But can emigration change public opinion about how best to respond to crime? Focusing on the political economy of remittances—the money migrants send to their families and communities—this study argues that emigration can increase support for violent responses to crime. Migrants’ families often spend remittances on investment goods, which makes them more vulnerable to crime and more supportive of violence to protect themselves. An analysis of AmericasBarometer data finds that remittance recipients are more likely both to fear crime and to be victims of crime than nonrecipients. They are also more approving of vigilantism, more tolerant of police bending the law to apprehend criminals, and more supportive of deploying the military in crime fighting. These findings contribute to our knowledge of the consequences of international migration for political development in migrant-sending countries.

Keywords

international remittancescrimemilitarizationpolice brutalityvigilantismLatin America and the Caribbean
Type
Research Article
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 63 , Issue 2 , May 2021 , pp. 26 - 50
Copyright
© The Authors, 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the University of Miami

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Footnotes

Conflict of interest: We confirm that we have no competing interests regarding publication of the manuscript.

References

REFERENCES

Acevedo, Jesse. 2019. Remittances and Support for Military Coups. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the Midwest Political Science Association, Chicago, April 4–7.Google Scholar
Acevedo, Jesse. 2020. Migrant Remittances and Demand for Redistribution. Studies in Comparative International Development 55: 403–35.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, Richard H., Jr. 1991. The Economic Uses and Impact of International Remittances in Rural Egypt. Economic Development and Cultural Change 39, 4: 695–722.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Adams, Richard H., Jr., and Cuecuecha, Alfredo. 2010. Remittances, Household Expenditure and Investment in Guatemala. World Development 38, 11: 1626–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahmed, Faisal Z. 2017. Remittances and Incumbency: Theory and Evidence. Economics and Politics 29, 1: 22–47.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ahmed, Faisal Z. 2020. The Perils of International Capital. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Bang, James T., Arindam, Mandal, and Aniruddha, Mitra. 2019. Transnational Remittances and State Protection of Human Rights: A Case for Caution. Economic Notes: Review of Banking, Finance and Monetary Economics 48, 3: 1–15.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bargent, James. 2015. Vigilante Justice Popular Across Latin America: Report. Insight Crime, March 30. www.insightcrime.orgGoogle Scholar
Bastiaens, Ida, and Tirone, Daniel C.. 2019) Remittances and Varieties of Democratization in Developing Countries. Democratization 26, 7: 1132–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bateson, Regina. 2012. Crime Victimization and Political Participation. American Political Science Review 106, 3: 570–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bateson, Regina. 2020. The Politics of Vigilantism. Comparative Political Studies, online first. DOI https://doi.org/10.1177/0010414020957692CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bearce, David H., and Park, Seungbin. 2019. Why Remittances Are a Political Blessing and Not a Curse. Studies in Comparative International Development 54, 1: 164–84.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bobea, Lilian. 2011. Democratizing Violence: The Case of the Dominican Republic. Washington, DC: Western Hemisphere Security Analysis Center.Google Scholar
Buchanan, Cornelia, DeAngelo, Liz, Ma, Ruidan, and Taylor, Chris. 2012. Mano Dura in the Americas: Who Supports Iron Fist Rule. AmericasBarometer Insights 80: 1–8.Google Scholar
Caldeira, Teresa P., and Holston, James. 1999. Democracy and Violence in Brazil. Comparative Studies in Society and History 41, 4: 691–729.Google Scholar
Careja, Romana, and Patrick, Emmenegger. 2012. Making Democratic Citizens: The Effects of Migration Experience on Political Attitudes in Central and Eastern Europe. Comparative Political Studies 45, 7: 875–902.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carneiro, Cristiane Lucena, and Ana, Figueroa. 2019. Migrant Remittances and Rights to Physical Integrity: A Cross-section Study of Latin America, 1981–2014. Brazilian Political Science Review 13, 2: 19–31.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Casado, Leticia, and Ernesto, Londoño. 2020. Gun Ownership Soars in Brazil Under Bolsonaro. New York Times, March 31.Google Scholar
Cohen, Mollie J., Noam, Lupu, and Zechmeister, Elizabeth J., eds. 2017. The Political Culture of the Americas 2016/17: A Comparative Study of Democracy and Governance. Nashville: Vanderbilt University. https://www.vanderbilt.edu/lapop/ab2016/AB2016-17_Comparative_Report_English_V2_FINAL_090117_W.pdfGoogle Scholar
Córdova, Abby, and Jonathan, Hiskey. 2015. Shaping Politics at Home: Cross-Border Social Ties and Local-Level Political Engagement. Comparative Political Studies 48, 11: 1454–87.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Córdova, Abby, and Jonathan, Hiskey. 2019. Development Context and the Political Behavior of Remittance Recipients in Latin America and the Caribbean. Political Behavior, online first. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11109-019-09574-5.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Costelloe, Michael T., Ted, Chiricos, and Marc, Gertz. 2009. Punitive Attitudes Toward Criminals: Exploring the Relevance of Crime Salience and Economic Insecurity. Punishment & Society 11, 1: 25–49.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cruz, José Miguel. 2016. State and Criminal Violence in Latin America. Crime, Law and Social Change 66, 4: 375–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Davis, Diane E., and Pereira, Anthony W., eds. 2003. Irregular Armed Forces and Their Role in Politics and State Formation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
De Haas, Hein. 2007. Turning the Tide? Why Development Will Not Stop Migration. Development and Change 38, 5: 819–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Di Tella, Rafael, Galiani, Sebastian, and Schargrodsky, Ernesto. 2010. Crime Distribution and Victim Behavior During a Crime Wave. In The Economics of Crime: Lessons For and From Latin America, ed. Di Tella, Galiani, and Schargrodsky. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 175–204.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, David. 2015. Remittances and Social Spending. American Political Science Review 109, 4: 785–802.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doyle, David, and Ana, Isabel López García. 2019. Crime, Remittances, and Presidential Approval in Mexico. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, online first. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1623325CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Duquette-Rury, Lauren. 2019. Exit and Voice: The Paradox of Cross-Border Politics in Mexico. Berkeley: University of California Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Durand, Jorge, Kandel, William, Parrado, Emilio A., and Massey, Douglas S.. 1996. International Migration and Development in Mexican Communities. Demography 33, 2: 249–64.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Escribà-Folch, Abel, Covadonga, Meseguer, and Wright, Joseph. 2015. Remittances and Democratization. International Studies Quarterly 59, 3: 571–86.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Escribà-Folch, Abel, Meseguer, Covadonga, and Wright, Joseph. 2018. Remittances and Protest in Dictatorships. American Journal of Political Science, 62, 4: 889–904.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fearon, James D. 2011. Homicide Data. Third revision. Background paper prepared for the World Development Report 2011 team. World Development Report Background Papers. Washington, DC: World Bank.Google Scholar
Flores-Macías, Gustavo, and Jessica, Zarkin. 2019. The Militarization of Law Enforcement: Evidence from Latin America. Perspectives on Politics, online first. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S1537592719003906CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Foweraker, Joe, and Roman, Krznaric. 2002. The Uneven Performance of Third Wave Democracies: Electoral Politics and the Imperfect Rule of Law in Latin America. Latin American Politics and Society 44, 3: 29–60.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galiani, Sebastian, Jaitman, Laura, and Weinschelbaum, Federico. 2020. Crime and Durable Goods. Journal of Economic Behavior & Organization 173 (May): 146–63.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaviria, Alejandro, and Carmen, Pagés. 2002. Patterns of Crime Victimization in Latin American Cities. Journal of Development Economics 67, 1: 181–203.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gaviria, Alejandro, Medina, Carlos, Morales, Leonardo, and Núñez, Jairo. 2010. Who Bears the Burden of Crime in Colombia? In The Economics of Crime: Lessons For and From Latin America, ed. di Tella, Rafael, Galiani, Sebastian, and Schargrodsky, Ernesto. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. 101–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Germano, Roy. 2018. Outsourcing Welfare: How the Money Immigrants Send Home Contributes to Stability in Developing Countries. Oxford: Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hiskey, Jonathan, Montalvo, Jorge Daniel, and Orcés, Diana. 2014. Democracy, Governance, and Emigration Intentions in Latin America and the Caribbean. Studies in Comparative International Development 49, 1: 89–111.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ho, Daniel E., Kosuke, Imai, Gary, King, and Stuart, Elizabeth A.. 2007. Matching as Non-parametric Preprocessing for Reducing Model Dependence in Parametric Causal Inference. Political Analysis 15, 3: 199–236.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hockstader, Lee. 1991. President-Elect Condones Vigilantism in Haiti. Washington Post, January 10. https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/politics/1991/01/10/president-elect-condones-vigilantism-in-haiti/ef4f72f5-1889-4963-970d-89fbe981e1c7Google Scholar
Hogan, Michael J., Ted, Chiricos, and Marc, Gertz. 2005. Economic Insecurity, Blame, and Punitive Attitudes. Justice Quarterly 22, 3: 392–412.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hume, Mo. 2007. Mano Dura: El Salvador Responds to Gangs. Development in Practice 17, 6: 739–51.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Iacus, Stefano M., Gary, King, and Giuseppe, Porro. 2012. Causal Inference Without Balance Checking: Coarsened Exact Matching. Political Analysis 20, 1: 1–24.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Jaitman, Laura. 2017. The Costs of Crime and Violence: New Evidence and Insights in Latin America and the Caribbean. Washington, DC: Inter-American Development Bank. DOI http://dx.doi.org/10.18235/0000615 Google Scholar
Justus, Marcelo, and Ana, Lúcia Kassouf. 2013. Evidence of the Effect of Wealth Observed by Criminals on the Risk of Becoming a Victim of Property Crimes. Economía 14, 2: 88–101.Google Scholar
Latin American Public Opinion Project (LAPOP). 2019. AmericasBarometer Surveys 2004–2017. Nashville: Vanderbilt University.Google Scholar
Ley, Sandra, Ibarra Olivo, José Eduardo, and Meseguer, Covadonga. 2019. Family Remittances and Vigilantism in Mexico. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, online first. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1623309CrossRefGoogle Scholar
López, García, Ana, Isabel. 2017. Economic Remittances, Temporary Migration and Voter Turnout in Mexico. Migration Studies 6, 1: 20–52.Google Scholar
López, García, Ana, Isabel. 2018. International Remittances, Cash Transfer Assistance and Voter Turnout in Mexico. Comparative Migration Studies 6, 1.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
López, García, Ana, Isabel. 2020. The 3×1 Programme and Criminal Violence in Mexico. Global Networks 20, 4: 625–55.Google Scholar
López, García, Ana, Isabel, and Barry, Maydom. 2019. Criminal Violence, Remittances and Turnout. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, online first. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1623294CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Malone, Mary Fran T. 2012. The Rule of Law in Central America: Citizens’ Reactions to Crime and Punishment. London: Continuum.Google Scholar
Massey, Douglas S., and Parrado, Emilia A.. 1998. International Migration and Business Formation in Mexico. Social Science Quarterly 79, 1: 1–20.Google Scholar
Maydom, Barry. 2017. Migrant Remittances and Democracy. Ph.D. diss., University of Oxford.Google Scholar
McKenzie, David, and Hillel, Rapoport. 2010. Self-Selection Patterns in Mexico-US Migration: The Role of Migration Networks. Review of Economics and Statistics 92, 4: 811–21.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moncada, Eduardo. 2017. Varieties of Vigilantism: Conceptual Discord, Meaning and Strategies. Global Crime 18, 4: 403–23.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moser, Caroline O., and Rodgers, Dennis. 2005. Change, Violence and Insecurity in Non-Conflict Situations. Working paper 245. London: Overseas Development Institute. https://www.odi.org/sites/odi.org.uk/files/odi-assets/publications-opinion-files/1824.pdfGoogle Scholar
Muggah, Robert. 2019. Reviewing the Costs and Benefits of Mano Dura Versus Crime Prevention in the Americas. In The Palgrave Handbook of Contemporary International Political Economy, ed. Shaw, T. M., Mahrenbach, L. C., Modi, R., and Yi-Chong, X.. London: Palgrave Macmillan. 465–83.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nivette, Amy. 2016. Institutional Ineffectiveness, Illegitimacy and Public Support for Vigilantism in Latin America. Criminology 54, 1: 142–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Orozco, Manuel. 2019. Remittances to Latin America and the Caribbean in 2018. Washington, DC: Inter-American Dialogue. https://www.thedialogue.orgGoogle Scholar
Payán, Tony. 2015. The Coproduction of Public Safety and Organized Crime in Mexico. Working Paper. James A. Baker III Institute for Public Policy, Rice University.Google Scholar
Pearce, Jenny. 2010. Perverse State Formation and Securitized Democracy in Latin America. Democratization 17, 2: 286–306.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pereira, Anthony W., and Davis, Diane E.. 2000. Introduction: New Patterns of Militarized Violence and Coercion in the Americas. Latin American Perspectives 27, 2: 3–17.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez, Oscar J. 2015. Civil-Military Relations in Post-Conflict Societies: Transforming the Role of the Military in Central America. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Armendáriz, Clarisa. 2014. Cross-Border Discussions and Political Behavior in Migrant-Sending Countries. Studies in Comparative International Development 49, 1: 67–88.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Armendáriz, Clarisa. 2019. Introduction: Migrant Transnationalism in Violent Democracies. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, online first. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1623275CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Armendáriz, Clarisa, and David, Crow. 2010. Do Migrants Remit Democracy? International Migration, Political Beliefs, and Behaviour in Mexico. Comparative Political Studies 43: 119–48.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Armendáriz, Clarisa, and David, Crow. 2018. Talk Without Borders: Why Political Discussion Makes Latin Americans with Relatives Abroad More Critical of Their Democracies. Comparative Political Studies 51, 2: 238–76.Google Scholar
Pérez-Arméndariz, Clarisa, and Lauren, Duquette-Rury. 2019. The 3x1 Program for Migrants and Vigilante Groups in Contemporary Mexico. Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies, online first. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2019.1623345CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfütze, Tobias. 2012. Does Migration Promote Democratization? Evidence from the Mexican Transition. Journal of Comparative Economics 40, 2: 159–75.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pfütze, Tobias. 2014. Clientelism Versus Social Learning: The Electoral Effects of International Migration. International Studies Quarterly 58, 2: 295–307.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pion-Berlin, David, and Manuel, Carreras. 2017. Armed Forces, Police and Crime-Fighting in Latin America. Journal of Politics in Latin America 9, 3: 3–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ríos Contreras, Viridiana. 2014. The Role of Drug-related Violence and Extortion in Promoting Mexican Migration: Unexpected Consequences of a Drug War. Latin American Research Review 49, 3: 199–217.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Santamaría, Gema, and Carey, David, Jr., eds. 2017. Violence and Crime in Latin America: Representations and Politics. Norman: University of Oklahoma Press. 3–18.Google Scholar
Singer, Alexa J., Cecilia, Chouhy, Lehmann, Peter S., Stevens, Jessica N., and Marc, Gertz. 2019. Economic Anxieties, Fear of Crime, and Punitive Attitudes in Latin America. Punishment & Society 22, 2: 181–206.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Soares, Ricardo R. 2015. Welfare Costs of Crime and Common Violence. Journal of Economic Studies 42, 1: 117–37.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Stark, Oded. 1991. The Migration of Labor. Cambridge: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Stark, Oded, and David, Bloom. 1985. The New Economics of Labor Migration. American Economic Review 75, 2: 173–78.Google Scholar
Tertytchnaya, Katerina, De Vries, Catherine E., Solaz, Hector, and Doyle, David. 2018. When the Money Stops: Fluctuations in Financial Remittances and Incumbent Approval in Central Eastern Europe, the Caucasus, and Central Asia. American Political Science Review 112, 4: 758–74.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). 2014. Global Study on Homicide 2013: Trends, Contexts, Data. Vienna: UNODC. https://www.unodc.org/documents/gsh/pdfs/2014_GLOBAL_HOMICIDE_BOOK_web.pdfGoogle Scholar
Visconti, Giancarlo. 2019. Policy Preferences After Crime Victimization: Panel and Survey Evidence from Latin America. British Journal of Political Science 50, 4: 1–15. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/S0007123418000297 CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Woodruff, Christopher M., and Zenteno, René. 2001. Remittances and Microenterprises in Mexico. Working Paper. Graduate School of International Relations and Pacific Studies, University of Caifornia, San Diego.Google Scholar
Yang, Dean. 2008. International Migration, Remittances and Household Investment: Evidence from Philippine Migrants’ Exchange Rate Shocks. Economic Journal 118, 528: 591–630.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zechmeister, Elizabeth. 2016. The Political Culture of the Americas—LAPOP. Nashville: Vanderbilt University.Google Scholar
Zizumbo-Colunga, Daniel. 2017) Community, Authorities, and Support for Vigilantism: Experimental Evidence. Political Behavior 39, 4: 989–1015.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: PDF

López García and Maydom supplementary material

López García and Maydom supplementary material

Download López García and Maydom supplementary material(PDF)
PDF 510.8 KB