Crime and the Governance of Large Metropolises in Latin America: Mexico City (Mexico) and Sao Paulo (Brazil)

Abstract

This paper analyzes different forms of criminal governance in two metropolises, Mexico City and São Paulo. It answers the questions: Who governs these two cities and how do they do it? What is governed? Why is it that in one metropolis there is an almost monopolistic criminal organization of coercion, but not in the other? Official sources include documents, press archives, statistics and a specialized bibliography. Results indicate that city governance and crime governance are interconnected, constituting micro-regimes that control territories, populations, goods, wealth, uses of force and power, thus bringing together the local, regional and transnational.