Organized Groups in Rio De Janeiro: A Framework for Understanding Violence in the City

Organized criminal groups in Rio de Janeiro encompasses state failure, drug markets, arms trade and trafficking, the myth of ‘protection’ of citizens, clientelism, political and police corruption. Even though highly studied, the complexity of its networks and culture built around it, over decades, makes a solution for the problem ever more far away. The research highlights the importance of the study of cities and urbanization for the comprehension of transnational issues in view of the crisis of the Nation-State in International Relations discipline. Following a revision of academic literature on the various conceptual characteristics of organized groups, this paper aims to build a framework of analysis for the organized groups in the favelas in Rio. The methodology used to reach this goal will be one of combining both conceptual literature of categorization of groups, and production on the history and issues around organized groups in Rio de Janeiro. Following a session on the historical conditions that led to the formation of such groups, and how they work today, concepts will be presented in order to open discussion on the dynamic of organized groups in Rio and how the causes and consequences surrounding those could be understood.