Stability without Shortcuts: Overcoming Reduccionist Debates on Security in Latin America

Latin America faces a profound security crisis with no short-term fixes. The region’s disproportionate share of global homicides—nearly 33% with only 8% of the world’s population—reflects the depth of the challenge. The crisis has weakened state capacities, eroded trust in democratic institutions, and increased public support for authoritarian measures. At the same time, public debate on security has become trapped in simplistic narratives, often framed as a clash between hard versus soft approaches.

Over time, as this IFIT paper argues, Latin American countries can significantly reduce the current crisis of violence and insecurity. However, to do so will require a discarding of today’s reductionist assumptions about what is driving the crisis and what is needed to overcome it. An updated and more evidence-based set of premises is urgently needed..

(This is an English-language executive summary of “Seguridad sin atajos ni pretextos: desmontando el debate reduccionista en América Latina“. To read the full publication in Spanish, click here.)

The DOI registration ID for this publication is: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.19064293