From Repression to Mobilization: Police Violence and Public Provision in Rio de Janeiro

When does police violence mobilize, and when does it demobilize? In this project, we evaluate how experiences with the predatory state (in the form of routinized police violence) shape patterns of engagement between citizens and the state within race-class subjugated communities. In a survey experiment of residents of informal urban settlements (known as favelas) in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, we test how the prevalence of police operations in one’s community shapes trust in and engagement with state and non-state actors on issues of public service provision.