Taking the Law Into Our Hands: Trust, Social Capital and Vigilante Justice
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Taking the Law into Our Hands: Trust, Social Capital and Vigilante Justice By Daniel Zizumbo Colunga Dissertation Submitted to the Faculty of the Graduate School of Vanderbilt University in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY in Political Science December, 2015 Nashville, Tennessee Approved: Elizabeth Jean Zechmeister Mitchell A. Seligson Cindy Diane Kam Jonathan Hiskey Matthew Singer DEDICATION ¡Nunca se acaba, falta lo más hermoso todavía! -Orinoco, Emilio Carballido ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, thanks to my parents Daniel and Patricia, this would not have been possible without your love and support. Thanks to my brothers Jerónimo and Eduardo, you are the better part of me. Gracias a mi Abuelo Mario y a Nani, por continuar estando a mi lado a pesar de todo. Gracias a mis abuelitos Daniel y Chela, por ser la piedra angular de tan bella familia. Thanks to my uncles, aunts and cousins, you are this beautiful family. Thanks to Liz, for guiding me through turbulent waters with love, enthusiasm and wisdom. Thanks to the LAPOP family, your support and feedback has helped me improve at every step of the way. Thanks to Arturo, Matt and Trevor, my brothers in arms. Gracias a Juan Pablo Arriaga y a Luz Soto por su ayuda como asistentes de investigación. Gracias a los pueblos de Cherán y Nahuatzen, así como a la Unidad habitacional Villa Olímpica por permitirme trabajar junto con ustedes. Gracias por haberme abierto las puertas. Gracias a la Universidad del Sur, a la Facultad de Psicología de la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México y a la Unidad de Investigaciones Psicosociales por haberme ayudado incondicionalmente. Thanks to Cindy Kam and all the experimentalists at Vanderbilt, you have been a true source of inspiration. Thanks to the Social Science Research Council’s Drugs Security and Democracy Program, Vanderbilt University’s RIPS-lab, Vanderbilt University’s Center for Latin American Studies and Mexico’s National Council of Science and Technology (CONACYT) for supporting important parts of this project. Finally, thanks to my committee members: Liz, Mitch, Cindy, Jon and Matt, for all the comments that have helped me improve this project. All remaining errors are, of course, my own. iii TABLE OF CONTENTS Page DEDICATION ................................................................................................................................................. ii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS .......................................................................................................................... iii LIST OF TABLES .......................................................................................................................................... vii LIST OF FIGURES ....................................................................................................................................... viii Chapter I. INTRODUCTION AND THEORY .................................................................................................... 1 Antecedents .................................................................................................................................................... 3 Group Conflict ............................................................................................................................................... 4 Culture .......................................................................................................................................................... 5 Social Hierarchy ............................................................................................................................................. 6 Insecurity ........................................................................................................................................................ 7 Theory: Social Capital and Distrust in the Authorities as Determinants of the Emergence of ECLE ..................................................................................................................................... 8 ECLE Incentives........................................................................................................................................... 8 Trust in the Law Enforcement of the State and ECLE ................................................................................ 10 Social Capital and ECLE .......................................................................................................................... 15 Dissertation Structure ................................................................................................................................. 20 II. THE CASE OF CHERÁN IN COMPARATIVE PERSPECTIVE ............................................. 24 The Origins of Vigilante Organizations ................................................................................................... 26 General Methods ......................................................................................................................................... 28 Section 1: The Case of Cherán .................................................................................................................. 31 Methods ....................................................................................................................................................... 35 Results 1: A Vigilante Movement in Three Acts .......................................................................................... 39 Results 2: A Strong Community in a Legitimacy Crisis ................................................................................ 46 Section 2: Cherán in a Comparative Perspective .................................................................................... 72 Method and Data Collection ........................................................................................................................ 77 Results ......................................................................................................................................................... 79 Conclusion .................................................................................................................................................... 94 III. CONFRONTING CRIME BY OURSELVES: TRUST IN THE COMMUNITY, DISTRUST IN THE POLICE AND THE EMERGENCE OF ANTI-CRIMINAL ORGANIZATIONS ACROSS THE AMERICAS ............................................. 100 Confronting Crime as a Community ..................................................................................................... 101 An Interactive Trust Hypothesis ............................................................................................................ 103 Social Capital When the Authorities Cannot Be Trusted ................................................................... 106 iv Study 1: Collective Anti-Criminal Action in Mexico ........................................................................... 108 Methods .................................................................................................................................................... 109 Results ...................................................................................................................................................... 113 Study 2: Collective Anti-Crime Organization in Latin America and the Caribbean ....................... 118 Study 3: Collective Anti-Crime Organization and ECLE ................................................................... 124 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 128 IV. TRUST AND SUPPORT FOR COLLECTIVE VIGILANTISM: A VIGNETTE EXPERIMENT ..................................................................................................................... 131 Defining Vigilante Justice ........................................................................................................................ 133 Trust and Collective Vigilante Justice .................................................................................................... 135 Methods ..................................................................................................................................................... 138 Design and Validity.................................................................................................................................. 138 Sample ...................................................................................................................................................... 141 Treatments and Variable Operationalization ............................................................................................ 143 Results ........................................................................................................................................................ 145 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................................. 148 V. TRUST AND VIGILANTE JUSTICE: A BEHAVIORAL EXPERIMENT ........................... 152 Vigilante Justice ......................................................................................................................................... 154 Defining Vigilantism ...............................................................................................................................