Gangs and Criminal Governance in El Salvador

Abstract

This chapter analyzes the conditions that have allowed street gangs in El Salvador to play an oversized role in the dynamics of security and electoral politics in that country. This case study reflects the increasing importance that criminal organizations have in governance and in the organization of political order in the region. Following the growing literature on criminal governance and non-state armed actors, the chapter makes three theoretical claims. First, street gangs are an essential part of daily local governance in several countries in the region. In practice, any effort to alter the living conditions of the population goes through the tacit or formal acquiescence of local criminal groups. Second, the ability of criminal groups to influence policy and politics at the national level is a function of their capability to translate their local, territorial control into leverage in relation to the national exercise of power. And third, such capacity stems from operational coordination across the territory.