DOI: https://doi.org/10.22456/2178-8839.77052 Rev. Conj. Aust. | Porto Alegre | v.9, n.47 | p.5-12 | jul./set. 2018 | ISSN: 2178-8839 5 CRIME, CIDADANIA E RAÇA: DILEMAS LATINO-AMERICANOS NA DOUTRINA DE SEGURANÇA Crime, citizenship and race: Latin American dilemmas in security doctrine José Oviedo Pérez 1 Introduction Latin America (LA) over the past century has experienced a period of relative interstate peace, free from the bloody wars typically seen in other global regions, such as Europe (CENTENO, 2002; MARES, 2001). The region, however, is also the most violent and unsafe in the world. Los Cabos, Mexico, the deadliest city in the world in 2017, boasts about 111.33 deaths per every 100,000 residents (SEGURIDAD, JUSTICIA Y PAZ, 2018: 3), making many of the region’s urban areas resemble combat zones. This paradox ically results in LA having what some scholars term a “violent” or “hybrid” peace (BATTAGLIO, 2012; MARES, 2001). This article discusses and analyses the historical trajectory that contributed to this development, specifically analyzing post-Cold War security doctrine in the region through a racial lens. Using historical process-tracing and a review of previous academic literature, we describe how the constitution of national identities, as well as state articulations of “citizenship” and “crime,” has resulted in a specific way of viewing and treating afro-descend- ent people across LA. This process has also contributed to the current security crisis across the hemisphere. Post-cold war security thinking Since the end of the Cold War, the field of security studies within international relations (IR) has been expanded beyond traditional questions of nuclear deterrence, conventional warfare, and so forth to include new areas of research (WALT, 1991). These topics included food security, human rights, economic develop- ment, etc., and greatly expanded the scholarly conversation within security studies. As Walt posits though, this expansion created two negative side effects: first it diluted the field and overburdened its research agenda, and secondly it allowed states to approach these problems with more traditional security methods 1 José O. Pérez é mestrando em Estudos Estratégicos Internacionais na Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul. Pérez é formado em Ciências Políticas e Estudos Latino-americanos pela University of Florida (2014), e foi um Fulbright Fellow (2015) no Brasil. Email: jose.oviedo.perez@gmail.com.