This book highlights historical explanations to and roots of present phenomena of violence, insecurity, and law enforcement in Central America. Violence and crime are among the most discussed topics in Central America today, and sensationalism and fear of crime is as present as the increase of private security, the re-militarization of law enforcement, political populism, and mano dura policies. The contributors to this volume discuss historical forms, paths, continuities, and changes of violence and its public and political discussion in the region. This book thus offers in-depth analysis of different patterns of violence, their reproduction over time, their articulation in the present, and finally their discursive mobilization.

Sebastian Huhn is Researcher and Lecturer at Osnabrueck University, Germany. His research focusses on Central American history, violence and crime in Central America and the Global South, and national identity, migration, and youth violence. His publications include several books and articles in English, Spanish, and German.

Hannes Warnecke-Bergeris Junior Researcher at the Special Research Council 1199 at the University of Leipzig, Germany. His research touches on the political economy of development and focuses on violence in the Global South. He has conducted extensive field research in El Salvador, Belize, and Jamaica.

1. The Enigma of Violent Realities in Central America: Towards a Historical Perspective .- 2. How to Explain and How Not to Explain Contemporary Criminal Violence in Central America .- 3. Of pandillas, pirucas, and Pablo Escobar in the barrio: Historical change and continuity in patterns of Nicaraguan gang violence .- 4. Memories of Violence in the Salvadoran Civil War: Comparing the Memoirs of Civilian Elites and Former Military Officers .- 5. Questioning the Crime Wave: On the Rise of Punitive Populism in Central America since the 1950s .- 6. The Salvadoran Armed Left and Revolutionary Violence (1970 1980) .- 7. On Collective Violence in Nineteenth-Century Guatemala .- 8. Borderlands and Public Violence in a Shadow Polity: Costa Ricans, Nicaraguans and the Legacy of the Central American Federation .- 9. Forms of Violence in Past and Present: El Salvador and Belize in Comparative Perspective .- 10. The Violence of Dispossession: Guatemala in the 19th and 20th Centuries.