Geographically and socio-economically, Nicaragua seems to be very close to the surrounding countries of the central-american triangle. One expects about the same high level of violence as in Guatemala, El Salvador and Honduras when looking at Nicaragua's bad economic performance.
Poverty and social inequality are high while the GDP is low. However, the level of violence rather resembles the low figures of Nicaragua’s southern neighbor Costa Rica than the regionally (and globally) high rates of the northern countries.
The reasons for this phenomenon are investigated by Heidrun Zinecker in HSFK-Report Nr. 5/2012 "Gewaltarmut in Nicaragua – Mythos oder Realität? Empirische Befunde, Kausalitäten und Lehren". After giving empirical evidence for the relatively low rates of violence in Nicaragua, she investigates the factors leading to these results in a causal-analytical study.
Against common findings, Zinecker argues that low remittances are a factor for reducing the rates of violence. The resulting relatively low level of relative deprivation is additionally absorbed through special social mechanisms, e.g. the relatively inclusive elites and the agrarian reforms. Secondly, good security governance is guaranteeing a low level of violence. Cooperation between police forces and civil society turns the latter into "co-producers" of security, which makes the police system working effectively. Despite differences between Nicaragua and other cases like El Salvador or Guatemala, insights from this study can be gained for security sectors in countries with a high rate of violence in the region.
Heidrun Zinecker is a professor of International Relations at the Institute for Political Science at Leipzig University. Her main research topics are violence in Central America and Columbia, transformative processes in Latin America, learning of political actors and the relation between development and peace theories.
This HSFK-Report is available at PRIF for EUR 6,- or as free PDF download.