Great article. One question, isn't there something to be learned from Bukele, given his success? Yes, he's also eroding democracy, but maybe there's a universe where a less power-hungry leader can use a state of emergency to initially crack down on gangs and also have a clear plan to return to normalcy once the gangs are significantly weaker?
Democracy matters and should not be flippantly sacrificed for safety, but ignoring the only success story doesn't seem like the best path either (not saying you are btw).
Thanks for the question! I absolutely think that there's something to be learned from Bukele. However, I think that the El Salvador model may be harder to replicate than some leaders assume. In my opinion, the key ingredients of Bukele's success were (1) achieving strategic surprise against the gangs since most didn't assume the crackdown would be as extreme or long-lasting, (2) having fairly unitary control over the state already which meant he could set security policy without facing much pushback (and keep the state of exception going pretty much indefinitely), and (3) maintaining control over the prisons. If we look at countries that have tried to imitate Bukele-style policies like Ecuador or Honduras, generally I feel they've been lacking on one or all of these metrics.
Great article. One question, isn't there something to be learned from Bukele, given his success? Yes, he's also eroding democracy, but maybe there's a universe where a less power-hungry leader can use a state of emergency to initially crack down on gangs and also have a clear plan to return to normalcy once the gangs are significantly weaker?
Democracy matters and should not be flippantly sacrificed for safety, but ignoring the only success story doesn't seem like the best path either (not saying you are btw).
Thanks for the question! I absolutely think that there's something to be learned from Bukele. However, I think that the El Salvador model may be harder to replicate than some leaders assume. In my opinion, the key ingredients of Bukele's success were (1) achieving strategic surprise against the gangs since most didn't assume the crackdown would be as extreme or long-lasting, (2) having fairly unitary control over the state already which meant he could set security policy without facing much pushback (and keep the state of exception going pretty much indefinitely), and (3) maintaining control over the prisons. If we look at countries that have tried to imitate Bukele-style policies like Ecuador or Honduras, generally I feel they've been lacking on one or all of these metrics.
Thanks for the reply! Yeah, that makes sense.