(In)visible Connections and the Makings of Collective Violence

  • Javier Auyero
  • Matthew Mahler
Chapter

Abstract

This chapter explores the often (in)visible connections,1 in what we call the gray zone of politics, between official political actors and unofficial political actors who are entrusted with the more unseemly “dirty work” of politics in contemporary Argentina, such as inciting episodes of collective violence, “paying off” youths with drugs and alcohol for their work of attending political rallies, and making physical threats against opposition parties and candidates. After a brief review of existing literature on the relationship between clandestine political connections and collective violence, this chapter uses an ethnographic reanalysis of existing data to construct three detailed accounts that highlight the role the gray zone plays in contemporary Argentinean politics. We argue that the laundering of political acts through these (in)visible channels constitutes a crucial dimension of politics that must be empirically dissected and theorized to better understand routine political activity writ large before concluding with a brief consideration of the analytical and methodological implications of such a framework.

Keywords

Gray Zone Police Presence Collective Violence Dirty Work Grassroots Activist 
These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.
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Copyright information

© Gabriela Polit Dueñas and María Helena Rueda 2011

Authors and Affiliations

  • Javier Auyero
  • Matthew Mahler

There are no affiliations available

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