The paper analyzes some of the “dispositifs” of governing the poor in territories on the margins of large Brazilian cities, specifically their favelas – a theme that I have been pursuing in my studies for some time. My intention is to discuss some of the results of this research, and the hypotheses that stem from them. Living and studying in Rio de Janeiro, I have analyzed the relationship between the state and favelas based on some dynamics observed in the empiric research, which, at first glance, can be understood to be local, including the new form of governing the poor through the militarization of their living territories using Unidades de Polícia Pacificadora [Police Pacification Units] (UPPs). I recognize, however, that this does not limit either the interest in or the relevance of their comprehension, given that these dynamics appear to not be exclusive to Rio de Janeiro. I argue that their local implementation is an experiment in the production of order, without the mediation of democratically inspired dispositifs for the administration of social conflicts. It thus involves a militarization of the administration of life and of urban conflicts based on a military rhetoric and practices that are increasingly considered to be central (and necessary) to the government of cities and urban safety (Foucault 2004a).
My argument will be developed through an analysis of how the management of favela territories is processed today in Rio de Janeiro with the UPPs, discussing the commodification of the city’s territories, the disciplinarization of the residents and the militarization of their life by the UPPs.
Margins are understood here using the analytical perspective developed by Das and Poole (2004) as spaces, populations and practices discusses the new modality of governance of the poor in border territories of Brazilian cities, specifically in their favelas and peripheries. We analyze, based on research carried out in Rio de Janeiro, dynamics that, at first glance, could appear to be local: the disciplinarization of inhabitants, the commodification of their territories and the militarization of their lives through the Pacifying Police Units. I argue that these units’ local implementation is an experiment in the production of order without democratic mediations for the management of social conflicts, which has the potential to be replicated in other teI conclude this article with the suggestion that the dynamics that we have examined locally are not exclusive to Rio de Janeiro. Experienced in the city, they have been replicated (with adjustments and new arrangements in terms of the technologies of safety, according to the specific objectives to be attained) in other territories and situations, and in relation to the populations that are to be disciplined. In this case, the most eloquent example is the militarization of public schools frequented by low income youth in various Brazilian cities, through partnerships between the local secretariats of education and public safety. As Carneiro and Sant’Anna (to be published) analyze, by assuming the administration of these schools, the military forces, more than fighting the violence in the school universe or their surroundings, promote a policing of the conduct of students with a systematic recourse to dispositifs for discipline and “exception” inspired by the militarization of territories under UPPS. Many analytical leads, that unfortunately I cannot follow within the space of this article, indicate the productivity of considering how to experiment with this new mode of security government in various Brazilian cities (frequently with financing from private companies and consulting from multilateral agencies), especially in relation to population segments that, because of their way of life and or agencying, in some way challenge and confront the established social order.
To conclude, i would like to emphasize two points. First, the administration of territories and populations under the UPPs constitutes a modality of governing of the poor that involves a territorially inscribed articulation (which I have been seeking to describe analytically based on the notion of “territorial regime”) of different powers – the sovereign, the disciplinary and biopower (Foucault 2004a, 2008). Collier (2009) suggests grasping this articulation as “topologies of power”: specific arrangements of dispositifs of governmentality that recombine different elements – technologies of security, institutional structures and material forms of these powers, conferring them a new meaning40. Second, the territorial inscription of these powers is not conducted homogenously in the “pacified” favelas. In other words, my hypothesis is that through this experiment with the UPPs, various territorial regimes have been established inthese locations, given that each one of them absorbs in a specific way (through various adjustme nts, negotiations, resistances and confrontations, which relate to the situational and temporal configurations) the new dispositifs of government of the poor, in an active coproduction of territory as margin and of the state itself.