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Based on over a decade of research across Central America, the United States, Israel, and Spain, The Struggle over Security analyzes Guatemala’s security governance reforms following the end of its civil war in 1996. Drawing on in-depth interviews with police and military officers, policymakers, and security advisers, it shows that, in the aftermath of war, a transnational security reform field emerged.
The book argues that the competing politicians, bureaucrats, and experts have entrenched a security reform process that perpetuates failure in post-war Guatemala, leaving citizens exposed to violence and security institutions persistently fragile.
Challenging the very logic of security reform, the book invites scholars and practitioners to radically rethink security governance in the Global South.
‘Central America is often framed as a lawless region, where society and states require constant intervention. Zooming in on Guatemala, Hochmüller shows how this imaginary of failure circulates transnationally and manifests locally in struggles over security sector reform. In the process, he attentively reconstructs decades of police reform – not to normatively evaluate what should be done ‘better’, but to consider the reproduction of reform on its own, generative terms. This places the book at the forefront of postcolonial security studies and makes it a must-read for all interested in police reform, its futures and its failures.’ Julienne Weegels, University of Amsterdam
‘Millions of dollars, thousands of trained officers, hundreds of workshops, and a police force Guatemalans still do not trust. Hochmüller declines the usual autopsy of failed intervention and asks instead who profits from the diagnosis. His answer – the reformers themselves, local and foreign alike – is uncomfortable for everyone in the field, including those of us who study it.’ Carlos A. Pérez Ricart, Centro de Investigación y Docencia Económicas, Mexico City
‘This extraordinary book shows why transnational security reform processes in Guatemala cannot be understood through a simple binary of success and failure. Hochmüller demonstrates that failure, rather than bringing reform to an end, can become one of the conditions of its persistence, as repeated setbacks renew the promise of another round of interventions in the name of a security that remains out of reach, thereby helping to reproduce and stabilize the field of reform itself. Essential reading for anyone seeking to understand the paradoxes of security in Guatemala and their implications far beyond the country.’ Alejandro M. Flores-Aguilar, University of Edinburgh
‘Analyzed through the prism of post-war Guatemala, this book offers a carefully reconstructed critique of transnational security governance reforms in the Global South – sites of power struggles between international and local, state and non-state actors which shape the form of ‘security’ but often fail in one respect: making citizens safer.’ Berit Bliesemann de Guevara, Aberystwyth University
‘As the mano dura policies of right-wing populists across Latin America feed upon enduring insecurity, impunity, and violence, understanding the equally persistent contradictions and failures of security reforms carries significant scholarly and political weight. Hochmüller’s rigorously researched case-study of Guatemala provides innovative insights and recasts our thinking about transnationally embedded security governance reforms.’ Wil G. Pansters, Utrecht University
1. Introduction
2. In the Aftermath of Violence: The Emergence of the Security Reform Field and the Making of a New Police
3. Challenging the Old Guard: Security as Science and Development
4. Countering Gangs and the Shadows of a Violent Past: The Field in Crisis and the Rise of the Heretics
5. Going Local: Prevention and the Re-Engineering of Communities
6. Protecting Privilege: Entrepreneurial Reformers and Security as Corporate Social Responsibility
7. Unlearning Reform: The Futures of Security Governance