Abstract
A repressão do Estado procura dissuadir os cidadãos de se oporem ao regime e seus programas e fazer com que a sociedade civil e o capital social sirvam aos seus propósitos. Essa repressão pode ir de formas leves de coerção e intimidação ao extremo de infligir dor física aos cidadãos. Os insurgentes também podem reprimir e infligir dor aos cidadãos e assim moldar seus comportamentos e atitudes. Nas décadas de 1980 e 1990, os Estados da América Central e seus oponentes empregaram níveis muito variados de repressão e violência política. No interior dessas nações, os indivíduos perceberam de modo diferenciado a violência e sofreram graus variados de dor e perda. Utilizando dados de surveys dos anos 90 para seis países centro-americanos a fm de examinar os efeitos sobre o capital social da repressão, da violência política percebida e da dor e perda resultantes, concluímos que a repressão sistêmica e a percepção da violência política afetam significativamente a sociedade civil (envolvimento em grupo) e variedades do capital social (participação política, normas democráticas e antidemocráticas, alienação das eleições e disposição para utilizar táticas de confrontação política). Os efeitos da dor e da perda são menos claros. Embora a repressão busque refrear a participação e moldar normas de submissão, seus efeitos na América Central são complexos e, às vezes, inconsistentes com esses objetivos porque ela promove um nível de organização comunal cada vez maior e certas formas confrontadoras de capital social.
Abstract
State repression seeks to dissuade citizens from opposing the regime and its programs, and to bend civil society and social capital to regime purposes. Such repression may range from lesser forms of coercion and intimidation to the extreme infliction of physical pain upon citizens. Insurgents, too, may repress and inflict pain upon citizens and thus shape their behavior and attitudes. Central American states and their opponents in the 1980s and early 1990s employed widely varying levels of repression and political violence. Individuals within these nations differentially perceived violence and experienced varying levels of pain and loss stemming from it. Using 1990s survey data from six Central American nations to examine the effects of repression, perceived political violence, and resultant pain and loss upon social capital, we find that repression at the systemic level and the perception of political violence significantly affect civil society (group involvement) and varieties of social capital (political participation, democratic and antidemocratic norms, alienation from elections, and willingness to employ confrontational political tactics). The effects of pain and loss are less clear. While repression seeks to constrain participation and mold compliant norms, its effects in Central America are complex and sometimes inconsistent with such goals because it promotes increased communal level organization and certain confrontational forms of social capital.
Palavras-chave: democratização, violência política, ativismo societal, América Central
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