Mini-Conference on Democracy and Organized Crime: How Organized Crime Affects Citizens' Political Behavior

Session Submission Type: Created Panel

Part of Mini-Conference

• Mini-Conference on Democracy and Organized Crime

Session Description

Our second panel is dedicated to understanding the role of voters and accountability in democracies with organized crime. Using experimental and survey evidence in Ecuador, El Salvador, and Mexico, as well as in a low-violence context like the Peruvian case, this panel offers relevant insights on civilians’ attitudes that shape how representation and accountability are held in organized crime-affected areas. On the one hand, it addresses citizens’ attitudes toward victims in the context of war, considering gender and non-gender-based violence, as well as attitudes toward unauthorized migrant populations who leave their countries amid criminal violence. On the other hand, this panel also addresses perceptions toward state actors and the regime type, examining popular perceptions toward threatened politicians (by criminal groups), the military in contexts affected by organized crime, and how the perceived presence of drug trafficking organizations shapes voter support for elections and democracy.

Sub Unit

• Division 21: Conflict Processes

Individual Presentations

• Electoral Support for Candidates Involved in Drug Trafficking - Mariana Victoria Ramirez Bustamante, Vanderbilt University

• Criminal Violence and Attitudes toward Immigrants in Mexico - Omar Garcia-Ponce, George Washington University

• Coercion or Co-opted? Differential Effect of Corruption for Voters in a Drug War - John Henry Murdy, University of Chicago

Chair

• Abby B. Cordova University of Notre Dame

Discussant

• Omar Garcia-Ponce George Washington University