Agrarian violence in Brazil: on the search for a Latin American "pattern"

• Grant number: 12/19252-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research
• Start date: August 01, 2013
• End date: July 31, 2014
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Political Science - Public Policies
• Principal Investigator: Artur Zimerman
• Grantee: Artur Zimerman
• Host Investigator: Wendy Wolford
• Host Institution: Centro de Engenharia, Modelagem e Ciências Sociais Aplicadas (CECS). Universidade Federal do ABC (UFABC). Ministério da Educação (Brasil). Santo André , SP, Brazil
• Institution abroad: Cornell University, United States

Abstract

Agrarian violence in Brazil due to land disputes is a persistent issue and much more people have died because of land conflicts in the democratic period than in previous military regimes. Generally, the literature focuses the discussion on land reform and not the agrarian violence per se.Latin American countries are engaged in land struggles which result in violent conflicts. There are evidences that this countryside violence present several similar elements than those which occur in Brazil. In this investigation, we should study if Latin America, in general, presents a similar behavior pattern than the Brazilian agrarian violence, by the inductive method. Therefore, many countries in the region should be analyzed, with the same criteria as we did for land disputes in Brazil. In case we find proof that both Brazil and several Latin American countries have similar behavior concerning the agrarian violence, the next step will be formulation of public policies for the reduction of the Latin American agrarian violence as a whole, with the objective to assist the decision makers in the continent. The methodology to be used is quantitative, with some qualitative elements. It will be based on a dataset creation and its subsequent analysis of variables and agrarian violence indicators in Brazil and some countries in the region. Interviews with peasants and large landholders' leaderships should assist this proposal to a better understanding of the agrarian violence issue. (AU)