With Latin America experiencing the highest rates of crime and violence in the world, this volume could not be more timely and important. It brings together some of the smartest thinkers in the region, from Mexico to the southern cone. The volume will be especially essential for anyone wishing to stay up to date on the rapidly changing and enormously complex criminal landscape in the Americas that goes well beyond the familiar terrain of drug trafficking and drug violence.

Peter Andreas, John Hay Professor of International Studies, Brown University (co-author of Policing the Globe: Criminalization and Crime Control in International Relations)

Bagley, Chabat, and Rosen’s edited volume moves us beyond the generic interpretations of the state’s relationship with organized crime and into the realm where we can better understand the complexity of these ties on the national and the subnational level. From Mexico’s difficult criminal dynamics to violence in Guatemala to post-conflict Colombia to human rights abuses by Brazil’s police, the book digs deep into the critical question in the region: In the relationship between governments and criminal groups, who controls whom?

Steven Dudley, InSight Crime

This splendid edited volume contributes to the growing literature on criminal politics in Latin America. The book opens by offering conceptual and theoretical insights on how to study relations between states and organized crime. The subsequent empirical chapters illustrate and amend these insights while highlighting areas in need of future research. With impressive empirical breadth, including the nexus between the drug trade and post-conflict politics in Colombia, the role of the Venezuelan state in shaping organized crime, and the unintended consequences of state responses to Central America’s gangs, this comprehensive and informative book will be of great interest to both scholars and policymakers.

Eduardo Moncada, Columbia University