Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-gvvz8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-26T07:59:29.214Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Militarization and Perceptions of Law Enforcement in the Developing World: Evidence from a Conjoint Experiment in Mexico

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  06 July 2021

Gustavo Flores-Macías Open the ORCID record for Gustavo Flores-Macías [Opens in a new window]  and
Jessica Zarkin Open the ORCID record for Jessica Zarkin [Opens in a new window]
Gustavo Flores-Macías
Affiliation:
Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences, Ithaca, NY, USA
Jessica Zarkin*
Affiliation:
Cornell University College of Arts and Sciences, Ithaca, NY, USA
*
*Corresponding author. E-mail: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Although a growing body of research suggests that the constabularization of the military for domestic policing is counterproductive, this increasingly prevalent policy has nonetheless enjoyed widespread support in the developing world. This study advances our understanding of the consequences of militarization for perceptions of law enforcement: whether visual features shape perceptions of effectiveness, respect for civil liberties, proclivity for corruption and acceptance of militarization in one's own neighborhood. Based on a nationally representative, image-based, conjoint experiment conducted in Mexico, the authors find that military weapons and uniforms enhance perceptions of effectiveness and respect for civil liberties, and that the effect of military uniform becomes greater with increased military presence. The study also finds that gender shapes perceptions of civil liberties and corruption, but detects no effect for skin color. The findings suggest that a central feature of militarization linked to greater violence – military weapons – is paradoxically a key factor explaining favorable attitudes, and that women can play a crucial role in improving perceptions of law enforcement.

Keywords

policingLatin Americamilitarization of law enforcementconjointMexicopublic opinion
Type
Article
Information
British Journal of Political Science , Volume 52 , Issue 3 , July 2022 , pp. 1377 - 1397
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press

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.)

References

Agencia Anadolu (2019) México: Nueve personas murieron en enfrentamiento en Guerrero [Mexico: nine people died in a confrontation in Guerrero]. 24 October. Available from https://www.aa.com.tr/es/mundo/m%5C%C3%5C%A9xico-nueve-personas-murieron-en-enfrentamiento-entrebandas-criminales-en-guerrero/1625188.Google Scholar
Aguilar Pariente, R (2011) Social and political consequences of stereotypes related to racial phenotypes in Mexico, Documento de Trabajo CIDE 230, August.Google Scholar
Aguilar Pariente, R et al. (2015) Ballot structure, candidate race, and vote choice in Brazil. Latin American Research Review 50(3), 175–202.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Americas Barometer (2019) Vanderbilt University's Latin America Public Opinion Project. Available from www.LapopSurveys.org.Google Scholar
Bailey, J and Dammert, L (2006) Public Security and Police Reform in the Americas. Pittsburgh, PA: University of Pittsburgh Press.Google Scholar
Bailey, J, Parás, P and Vargas, D (2013) ¿El ejército como policía? Correlación de la confianza pública en la policía, el sistema judicial, y los militares. [The military as police? The correlation between trust in the police, the judicial system, and the military]. Política y Gobierno, 161–185.Google Scholar
Balkin, S and Houlden, P (1983) Reducing fear of crime through occupational presence. Criminal Justice and Behavior 10(1), 13–33.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Barnes, T, Beaulieu, E and Saxton, G (2018) Restoring trust in the police: why female officers reduce suspicions of corruption. Governance 31, 143–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bateson, R (2012) Crime victimization and political participation. American Political Science Review 106(3), 570–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Benjamin, D and Shapiro, J (2009) Thin-slice forecasts of gubernatorial elections. Review of Economics and Statistics 91(3), 523–536.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Berens, S and Dallendörfer, M (2019) Apathy or anger? How crime experience affects individual vote intention in Latin America and the Caribbean. Political Studies 67(4), 1010–1033.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Berkowitz, L and Lepage, A (1967) Weapons as aggression-eliciting stimuli. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology 7(2), 202–207.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bickman, L (1974) The social power of a uniform. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 4(1), 47–61.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Blair, RA and Weintraub, M (2020) Mano Dura: An Experimental Evaluation of Military Policing in Cali, Colombia. Working Paper.Google Scholar
Bove, V and Gavrilova, E (2015) Policeman on the frontline or a soldier? The effect of police militarization on crime. American Economic Journal: Economic Policy 9(3), 1–18.Google Scholar
Boyanowsky, E and Griffiths, C (1982) Weapons and eye contact as instigators or inhibitors of aggressive arousal in police-citizen interaction. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 12(4), 398–407.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Breci, M (1997) Female officers on patrol: public perceptions in the 1990s. Journal of Crime and Justice 20(2), 153–155.Google Scholar
Brown, B and Benedict, WR (2002) Perceptions of the police: past findings, methodological issues, conceptual issues, and policy implications. Policing 25(3), 543–580.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Brown, B, Benedict, WR and Wilkinson, W (2006) Public perceptions of the police in Mexico: a case study. Policing 29(1), 158–175.Google Scholar
Brown, J (1998) Aspects of discriminatory treatment of women police officers serving in forces in England and Wales. British Journal of Criminology 38(2), 265–282.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Burke, R and Mikkelsen, A (2005) Gender issues in policing: do they matter? Women in Management Review 20(2), 133–143.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Calderón Garrido, L (2010) Discriminación de género y percepciones de la sexualidad entre los aspirantes, cadetes, instructores y autoridades en la Escuela Superior Militar Eloy Alfaro y la Escuela de Policía General Enríquez Gallo. [Gender discrimination and perceptions on sexuality among prospective cadets, cadets, instructors, and high-ranking officers in the Eloy Alfaro Advanced Military School and the General Enríquez Gallo Police School]. Master's thesis. Universidad Andina Simón Bolivar. Available from http://repositorionew.uasb.edu.ec/handle/10644/2238.Google Scholar
Caplan, B (2007) The Myth of the Rational Voter: Why Democracies Choose Bad Policies. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press.Google Scholar
Carnes, N and Lupu, N (2016) Do voters dislike working-class candidates? Voter biases and the descriptive underrepresentation of the working class. American Political Science Review 110(4), 832–844.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Chevigny, P (1995) The populism of fear. Punishment and Society 5(1), 77–96.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cochran, J and Warren, P (2012) Racial, ethnic, and gender differences in perceptions of the police: the salience of officer race within the context of racial profiling. Journal of Contemporary Criminal Justice 28(2), 206–227.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Comey, J (2005) Fighting terrorism and preserving civil liberties. University of Richmond Law Review 43, 403–418.Google Scholar
Commissioner of a Mexican State Agency (2018) Personal interview. Mexico. March.Google Scholar
Córdova, A and Kras, H (2019) Addressing violence against women: the effect of women's police stations on police legitimacy. Comparative Political Studies 53(5), 775–808.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cruz, JM and Durán-Martínez, A (2016) Hiding violence to deal with the state: criminal pacts in El Salvador and Medellin. Journal of Peace Research 53(2), 197–210.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CuartoPoder (2018) Ejercito y Policia ya cubren vacio de Gendarmeria en Morelia [In the absence of the Gendarmerie, the military and police take over in Morelia], 7 March. Available at https://cuartopodermichoacan.com/ejercito-y-policia-ya-cubren-vacio-de-gendarmeria-en-morelia/.Google Scholar
Delehanty, C et al. (2017) Militarization and police violence: the case of the 1033 program. Research and Politics 4(2), 1–7.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Doherty, J (2016) US vs them: the militarization of American law enforcement and the psychological effect of police officers and civilians. Southern California Interdisciplinary Law Journal 25, 415–450.Google Scholar
Drake, M (2006) Ambivalence at the academies: attitudes toward women in the military at the federal service academies. Social Thought and Research 27, 43–68.Google Scholar
Dube, A, Dube, O and García-Ponce, O (2013) Cross-border spillover: US gun laws and violence in Mexico. American Political Science Review 107(3), 397–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
El Colombiano (2019) Grupo especial del ejército para dar captura a criminales de Bello [Special military group is created to capture criminals in Bello], 14 March. Available from https://www.elcolombiano.com/antioquia/seguridad/violencia-en-bello-grupo-elite-del-ejercito-reforzara-seguridad-HF10378348.Google Scholar
El Confidencial (2016) El hijo del ‘Chapo’ Guzmán ha sido liberado, según un familiar de otro secuestrado [According to a family member of one of the kidnapped, the son of “El Chapo” Guzman is free], 21 August. Available from https://www.elconfidencial.com/mundo/2016-08-21/mexico-narcotrafico-secuestro-hijo-chapo-guzman-liberado_1249355/.Google Scholar
El Heraldo (2014) Acusan a Policía de Honduras de operar escuadrones de la muerte [The Honduran police is accused of having death squads], 7 April. Available from https://www.elheraldo.hn/sucesos/621908-219/acusan-a-policia-dehonduras-de-operar-escuadrones-de-la-muerte.Google Scholar
Flom, H and Post, A (2016) Blame avoidance and policy instability in developing countries: the politics of public security in Buenos Aires. Comparative Politics 49(1), 23–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores-Macías, G (2018) The consequences of militarizing anti-drug efforts for state capacity in Latin America: evidence from Mexico. Comparative Politics 51(1), 1–20.Google Scholar
Flores-Macías, G and Zarkin, J (2021a) The militarization of law enforcement: evidence from Latin America. Perspectives on Politics 19(2), 519–538.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores-Macías, G and Zarkin, J (2021b) Replication data for: Militarization and perceptions of law enforcement in the developing world: evidence from a conjoint experiment in Mexico. Available from https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/UMUEOK, Harvard Dataverse, V1, UNF:6:w0UEw2pMrkzirVtT17llAQ==Google Scholar
Foschi, M (2000) Double standards for competence: theory and research. Annual Review of Sociology 26(1), 21–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fox, B, Moule, R Jr and Parry, M (2018) Categorically complex: a latent analysis of public perceptions of police militarization. Journal of Criminal Justice 58, 33–46.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frank, J, Smith, B and Novak, K (2005) Exploring the basis of citizens’ attitudes toward the police. Police Quarterly 8(2), 206–228.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
González, Y (2020) Authoritarian Police in Democracy: Contested Security in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gundersen, DF (1987) Credibility and the police uniform. Journal of Police Science and Administration 15(3), 192–195.Google Scholar
Hainmueller, J and Hopkins, D (2015) The hidden American immigration consensus: a conjoint analysis of attitudes toward immigrants. American Journal of Political Science 59(3), 529–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hainmueller, J, Hopkins, D and Yamamoto, T (2014) Causal inference in conjoint analysis: understanding multidimensional choices via stated preference experiments. Political Analysis 22(1), 1–30.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Harris, MB et al. (1983) Clothing: communication, compliance, and choice. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 13(1), 88–97.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hertling, M (2020) ‘I helped build a police force in Iraq. We refused to dress them in camo’, The Washington Post, 20 July. Available from https://www.washingtonpost.com/outlook/2020/07/20/mark-hertlingpolice-portland/.Google Scholar
Holland, A (2013) Right on crime? Conservative party politics and Mano Dura policies in El Salvador. Latin American Research Review 48(1), 44–67.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Huddy, L and Terkildsen, N (1993) The consequences of gender stereotypes for women candidates at different levels and types of office. Political Research Quarterly 46(3), 503–525.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Human Rights Watch (2019) Mexico: Events of 2018. New York: Human Rights Watch.Google Scholar
Hurtado, L (2006) Ejército cholificado: reflexiones sobre la apertura del ejército peruano hacia los sectores populares [The ‘cholificacion’ of the military: reflections on the Peruvian military's opening to the popular sector]. Íconos: Revista de Ciencias Sociales 26, 1390–1249.Google Scholar
Jennings, W et al. (2017) Penal populism and the public thermostat: crime, public punitiveness, and public policy. Governance 30(3), 463–481.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kahn, K (1992) Does being male help? An investigation of the effects of candidate gender and campaign coverage on evaluations of US Senate candidates. Journal of Politics 54(2), 497–517.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Karim, S (2019) Restoring confidence in post-conflict security sectors: survey evidence from Liberia on female ratio balancing reforms. British Journal of Political Science 49(3), 799–821.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Latinobarometer (2018) Latinobarometer data 2018.Google Scholar
Lawson, C et al. (2010) Looking like a winner: candidate appearance and electoral success in new democracies. World Politics 62(4), 561–593.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lawson, E Jr (2019) Police militarization and the use of lethal force. Political Research Quarterly 72(1), 177–189.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leeper, T, Hobolt, S and Tilley, J (2020) Measuring subgroup preferences in conjoint experiments. Political Analysis 28(2), 207–221.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Leger, K (1997) Public perceptions of female police officers on patrol. American Journal of Criminal Justice 21(2), 231–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lerman, A and Weaver, V (2014) Arresting Citizenship: The Democratic Consequences of American Crime Control. Chicago, IL: University of Chicago Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lessing, B (2017) Making Peace in Drug Wars: Crackdowns and Cartels in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lockwood, B, Doyle, M and Comiskey, J (2018) Armed, but too dangerous? Factors associated with citizen support for the militarization of the police. Criminal Justice Studies 31(2), 113–127.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Magaloni, B and Rodríguez, L (2020) Institutionalized police brutality: torture, the militarization of security, and the reform of inquisitorial criminal justice in Mexico. American Political Science Review 114(4), 1013–1034.Google Scholar
Mastrofski, S (2004) Controlling street-level police discretion. ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 593(1), 100–118.Google Scholar
Mauro, R (1984) The constable's new clothes: effects of uniforms on perceptions and problems of police officers. Journal of Applied Social Psychology 14(1), 42–56.Google Scholar
McKee, J and Sherriffs, A (1957) The differential evaluation of males and females. Journal of Personality 25(3), 356–371.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Moncada, E (2009) Toward democratic policing in Colombia? Institutional accountability through lateral reform. Comparative Politics 41(4), 431–449.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Moule, R Jr, Fox, B and Parry, M (2019) The long shadow of Ferguson: legitimacy, legal cynicism, and public perceptions of police militarization. Crime and Delinquency 65(2), 151–182.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mummolo, J (2018) Militarization fails to enhance police safety or reduce crime but may harm police reputation. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America 115(37), 1–6.Google ScholarPubMed
Nanes, M (2018) Policing in divided societies: the importance of perceptions. Comparative Politics Newsletter 28(1), 51–58.Google Scholar
Norden, D (2016) Latin American militaries in the 21st century: civil-military relations in the era of disappearing boundaries. In Mares, D and Kacowicz, A (eds), Routledge Handbook of Latin American Security. London: Routledge, pp. 242–253.Google Scholar
Olken, B and Barron, P (2009) The simple economics of extortion: evidence from trucking in Aceh. Journal of Political Economy 117(3), 417–452.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ordorica, AP (2011) El Ejército y la ley. Nexos, 1 December. Available from https://www.nexos.com.mx/?p=14585.Google Scholar
Osorio, J (2015) Contagion of drug violence: spatio-temporal dynamics of the Mexican war on drugs. Journal of Conflict Resolution 59(8), 1403–1432.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Page, A (2008) Judging women and defining crime: police officers’ attitudes toward women and rape. Sociological Spectrum 28(4), 389–411.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pérez-Correa, C, Silva, C and Gutiérrez, R (2015) Índice de letalidad: menos enfrentamientos más opacidad [Lethality index: fewer confrontations and more opacity]. Nexos, 1 July. Available from https://www.nexos.com.mx/?p=25468Google Scholar
Phillips, B (2015) How does leadership decapitation affect violence? The case of drug trafficking organizations in Mexico. Journal of Politics 77(2), 324–336.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Pratt, J (2007) Penal Populism. London: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Prensa Libre (2014) Honduras arranca operativos para combatir la violencia, 28 January. Available from https://www.prensalibre.com/internacional/honduras-arranca-operativos-para-combatir-violencia-0-1074492745/.Google Scholar
Roberts, J et al. (2003) Penal Populism and Public Opinion: Lessons from Five Countries. New York: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Romero, V, Magaloni, B and Díaz-Cayeros, A (2016) Presidential approval and public security in Mexico's war on crime. Latin American Politics and Society 58(2), 100–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, J and Kassab, HS (2020) Crime, Violence, and the State in Latin America. New York: Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rouquié, A (1987) The Military and the State in Latin America. Berkeley: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Sabet, D (2010) Police reform in Mexico: advances and shared obstacles. In Olson, E, Shrik, D and Selee, A et al. (eds), Shared Responsibility: US-Mexico Policy Options for Confronting Organized Crime. Washington, DC: Wilson Center, p. 247.Google Scholar
Schwindt-Bayer, L and Reyes-Householder, C (2017) Citizen responses to female executives: is it sex, novelty or both? Politics, Groups, and Identities 5(3), 373–398.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Secretaría de Defensa Nacional de Honduras (2013) Memoria 2013 Secretaría de Defensa Nacional [2013 Annual Report of the Secretariat of National Defense]. Available from http://www.dip.mindef.mil.gt/memoria_labores_2012-2013.pdf.Google Scholar
Shirk, D (2011) The Drug War in Mexico. Washington, DC: Council on Foreign Relations.Google Scholar
Simpson, R (2017) The police officer perception project: an experimental evaluation of factors that impact perceptions of the police. Journal of Experimental Criminology 13(3), 393–415.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Singer, M and Singer, AE (1985) The effect of police uniform on interpersonal perception. The Journal of Psychology 119(2), 157–161.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Snyder, R and Durán-Martínez, A (2009) Does illegality breed violence? Drug violence and state-sponsored protection rackets. Crime, Law, and Social Change 52(3), 253–273.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Sputnik News (2019) Policía colombiana despeja disturbios en puente fronterizo con Venezuela [Colombian police handle disturbances on a border bridge with Venezuela], 26 February. Available from https://mundo.sputniknews.com/america-latina/201902261085722317-choques-opositores-venezolanos-tachira/.Google Scholar
Storr, S and López Portillo Vargas, E (2019) Seguridad Pública Enfocada en el Uso de la Fuerza e Intervención Militar: La Evidencia en México 2006–2018 [Public security focused on the use of force and military intervention: evidence from Mexico 2006–2018]. Ciudad de México: Universidad Iberoamericana. Available from https://seguridadviacivil.ibero.mx/pdf/informe.pdf?_ga=2.88145947.182919811.1605128811-1697792030.1605128811.Google Scholar
Telles, E (2014) Pigmentocracies: Ethnicity, Race, and Color in Latin America. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press.Google Scholar
Tenzel, J, Storms, L and Sweetwood, H (1976) Symbols and behavior-experiment in altering police role. Journal of Police Science and Administration 4(1), 21-27.Google Scholar
The Economist (2017) The Brazilian army is turning into a de facto police force, 6 July.Google Scholar
Trejo, G and Altamirano, M (2016) The Mexican color hierarchy: how race and skin tone still define life chances 200 years after independence. In Hooker, J and Tillery, A (eds), The Double Bind: The Politics of Racial Class in the Americas. Washington, DC: APSA, pp. 1–14.Google Scholar
Trejo, G and Ley, S (2018) Why did drug cartels go to war in Mexico? Subnational party alternation, the breakdown of criminal protection, and the onset of large-scale violence. Comparative Political Studies 51(7), 900–937.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wall Street Journal (2010) 12 Mexican police killed in ambush, 15 June. Available from https://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052748704324304575306862673082500.Google Scholar
Weaver, V (2012) The electoral consequences of skin color: the ‘hidden’ side of race in politics. Political Behavior 34(1), 159–192.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weitzer, R (2000) White, black or blue cops? Race and citizen assessments of police officers. Journal of Criminal Justice 28(4), 313–324.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Weitzer, R and Hasisi, B (2008) Does ethnic composition make a difference? Citizens’ assessments of Arab police officers in Israel. Policing & Society 18(4), 362–376.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wenzelburger, G (2016) A global trend toward law and order harshness? European Political Science Review 8(4), 589–613.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
White, K (2015) The salience of skin tone: effects on the salience of police enforcement authority. Ethnic and Racial Studies 38(6), 993–1010.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Wyrick, P (2013) Police Militarization: Attitudes Towards the Militarization of the American Police (Master's thesis). East Tennessee State University. Available from https://dc.etsu.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?referer=https://scholar.google.com.mx/&httpsredir=1&article=2329&context=etd.Google Scholar
Yashar, D (2018) Homicidal Ecologies: Illicit Economies and Complicit States in Latin America. New York: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Zebrowitz, L et al. (2002) Looking smart and looking good: facial cues to intelligence and their origins. Personality and Social Psychology Bulletin 28(2), 238–249.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zechmeister, E and Zizumbo-Colunga, D (2013) The varying political toll of concerns about corruption in good versus bad economic times. Comparative Political Studies 46(10), 1190–1218.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zhao, J and Ren, L (2015) Exploring the dimensions of public attitudes toward the police. Police Quarterly 18(1), 3–26.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Supplementary material: Link

Flores-Macías and Zarkin Dataset

Dataset

https://doi.org/10.7910/DVN/UMUEOK
Link
Supplementary material: File

Flores-Macías and Zarkin supplementary material

Flores-Macías and Zarkin supplementary material

Download Flores-Macías and Zarkin supplementary material(File)
File 3.7 MB