Routine Politics and Violence in Argentina: The Gray Zone of State Power

210 Pages·2007·1.59 MB·English

by  Javier Auyero

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Routine Politics and Violence in Argentina
Closetothreehundredstoresandsupermarketswerelootedduringweek-
long food riots in Argentina in December 2001. Thirty-four people were
reported dead, and hundreds were injured. Among the looting crowds,
activists from the Peronist Party (the main political party in the country)
werequiteprominent.Duringthelootings,policeofficerswereconspicu-
ouslyabsent–particularlywhensmallstoresweresacked.Throughacom-
bination of archival research, statistical analysis, and multisited fieldwork
anddrawingontheperspectiveofcontentiouspolitics,thisbookprovides
thefirstavailableanalyticdescriptionoftheorigins,course,meanings,and
outcomes of the December 2001 wave of lootings in Argentina. It scruti-
nizesthegrayzonewheretheactionsandnetworksofbothpartyactivists
andlawenforcementofficialsmeetandmesh.Thebookalsomakesacase
forthestudyofthegrayzoneinlessspectacular,butequallyrelevant,forms
of political activity. Clandestine connections between established political
actors,thisbookargues,countinthemakingofcollectiveviolenceandin
routinepoliticallife.
JavierAuyeroisanassociateprofessorofsociologyattheStateUniversity
of New York, Stony Brook. He was awarded a John Simon Guggenheim
Fellowship in 2001 and a Harry Frank Guggenheim Fellowship in 2005.
Heis theauthor of Poor People’sPolitics and Contentious Lives and has pub-
lishedarticlesinTheoryandSociety,Ethnography,Mobilization,LatinAmerican
ResearchReview,andJournalofLatinAmericanStudies,amongothers.
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Cambridge Studies in Contentious Politics
Editors
JackA.Goldstone GeorgeMasonUniversity
DougMcAdam StanfordUniversityandCenterforAdvancedStudy
intheBehavioralSciences
SidneyTarrow CornellUniversity
CharlesTilly ColumbiaUniversity
ElisabethJ.Wood YaleUniversity
RonaldAminzadeetal.,SilenceandVoiceintheStudyofContentious
Politics
CliffordBob,TheMarketingofRebellion:Insurgents,Media,and
InternationalActivism
CharlesBrockett,PoliticalMovementsandViolenceinCentralAmerica
GeraldF.Davis,DougMcAdam,W.RichardScott,andMayerN.
Zald,SocialMovementsandOrganizationTheory
JackA.Goldstone,editor,States,Parties,andSocialMovements
DougMcAdam,SidneyTarrow,andCharlesTilly,Dynamicsof
Contention
KevinJ.O’BrienandLianjiangLi,RightfulResistanceinRuralChina
SidneyTarrow,TheNewTransnationalActivism
CharlesTilly,ThePoliticsofCollectiveViolence
CharlesTilly,ContentionandDemocracyinEurope,1650–2000
DeborahYashar,ContestingCitizenshipinLatinAmerica:TheRiseof
IndigenousMovementsandthePostliberalChallenge
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Routine Politics and Violence
in Argentina
THE GRAY ZONE OF STATE
POWER
JAVIER AUYERO
StateUniversityofNewYork,
StonyBrook
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CAMBRIDGEUNIVERSITYPRESS
Cambridge, New York, Melbourne, Madrid, Cape Town, Singapore, São Paulo
Cambridge University Press
The Edinburgh Building, Cambridge CB28RU, UK
Published in the United States of America by Cambridge University Press, New York
www.cambridge.org
Information on this title: www.cambridge.org/9780521872362
©SimonHix,AbdulG.NouryandGerardRoland2007
This publication is in copyright. Subject to statutory exception and to the provision of
relevant collective licensing agreements, no reproduction of any part may take place
without the written permission of Cambridge University Press.
First published in print format 2007
ISBN-13 978-0-511-27829-7 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-10 0-511-27829-2 eBook (EBL)
ISBN-13 978-0-521-87236-2 hardback
ISBN-10 0-521-87236-7 hardback
ISBN-13 978-0-521-69411-7 paperback
ISBN-10 0-521-69411-6 paperback
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guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate.
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ForEsteban,readerofallbooks,sourceofallimportantideas.
AndforTuki,whoknowswhatreallymatters.
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