The monopoly dynamics of violence and control in a cross-border and Amazonian territory

Abstract

 This paper analyzes the practices related to the control and monopoly of violence in the triple Amazonian border. The investigation followed actions of the Army and Federal Police in the region of Alto Solimões, especially in the confluence area among Brazil, Peru and Colombia. This study is a result of a research project that lasted three years, with systematic accompaniment of operations for border control and interlocution with those responsible for policing the region. By considering the monopoly of violence a state policy action, the investigation sought the structuring practices and the difficulties faced by police forces to carry out this purpose. This research proposes that the monopoly of violence is a political project tensioned by the dynamics of social life in a cross-border territory in the Amazon. Violences, illegalities and crimes, in an extension area and peculiar ecosystem, represent continuous challenges for police forces that must act on behalf of territorial control of an Amazonian border. The results show how military and federal police officers experience actual problems to develop a political perspective which, in theory, guides their work as agents responsible for a fundamental principle of the modern State.