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We experimentally evaluate the social and political consequences of a military policing intervention in Cali, Colombia, one of the world’s most violent cities. Despite null or adverse effects on crime and human rights, we show that Plan Fortaleza improved citizen’ attitudes towards the military and increased their demand for military involvement in domestic law enforcement. It also strengthened citizens’ support for extrajudicial punishment and—alarmingly—for military coups in response to rising crime, potentially signaling a diminished commitment to democracy and the rule of law among the program’s intended beneficiaries.
Speaker: Michael Weintraub, Associate Professor of Government, Universidad de los Andes.
Moderated by Alisha Holland, Professor of Government, Harvard University.
Michael Weintraub is an Associate Professor in the School of Government at Universidad de los Andes in Bogotá, Colombia, and Director of the Security and Violence Area of the Center for the Study of Security and Drugs (CESED) at the same university. In Spring 2024, he is a Visiting Fellow at the Ash Center for Democratic Governance and Innovation at the Harvard Kennedy School.
Alisha Holland is a Professor in the Government Department at Harvard University. Before joining the Harvard faculty, she was an Assistant Professor in the Politics Department at Princeton University. Her first book, Forbearance as Redistribution: The Politics of Informal Welfare in Latin America (Cambridge Studies in Comparative Politics), looks at the politics of enforcement against property law violations by the poor, such as squatting, street vending, and electricity theft. She is working on a new book on the politics of mass infrastructure investments in Latin America.
Presented in collaboration with the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs