Neoliberalismo, medo do crime e autoritarismo debilitado na América Latina

This article analyzes the symbiosis between the neoliberal economic model, the rise of fear of crime as a central political affect, and the configuration of the penal State in Latin America. It is a theoretical essay of synthesis and critical reflection that articulates critical criminology, political economy, political science, and the sociology of control. The study demonstrates how financial deregulation and the transfer of state sovereignty to transnational corporations erode the democratic responsiveness of governments. In this scenario, the State, weakened in its social dimension, reconstructs its legitimacy through a "weakened authoritarianism," in which the management of systemic insecurity and punitivism become the primary commodities of the political industry. Based on an analysis of recent governments in the region, the article concludes that the spectacularization of common crime and the creation of "post-sovereign States" serve as a smokescreen for the implementation of ultra-neoliberal austerity agendas. On the periphery of capitalism, fear is not merely a byproduct of violence, but a strategic tool for population control that allows the survival of a State that renounces social welfare to transform into the armed wing of financial capital.