Militarización sin militares. Policías en tiempos de guerra

Abstract

This paper deals with the phenomenon of police militarization in Argentina, deconstructing the different meanings and moments in which militarization has taken place. First, we analyze the official narratives of the provincial police with the purpose to understand the ways in which each force legitimizes its institutional conformation and its field of action. Second, we study the concept of militarization in order to characterize the different historical relationships between the police and the armed forces. Finally, we focus on the Río Negro police to question the recent process of “militarization” governed by the so called war against drugs that has legitimize different reforms internationally and authorized the transference of a significant number of resources.