Criminal governance and the extended state in Brazil
A Gramscian reading of criminal factions
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.35295/osls.iisl.2739Keywords:
Criminal factions, criminal governance, extended state, hegemony, organized crimeAbstract
This article analyzes criminal governance in Brazil through a Gramscian reading of the expanded state, focusing on how criminal factions such as the Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC) and Comando Vermelho (CV) dispute social regulation, authority, and territorial organization in contexts of uneven state capacity. Using a qualitative methodology based on a literature review and theoretical-documentary analysis, the study connects Antonio Gramsci’s contributions with contemporary debates on criminal governance, organized violence, prison orders, and peripheral neoliberalism. The article proposes the category of partial criminal hegemony to characterize situated and contingent forms of criminal power that combine coercion, consent, social regulation, and legitimacy production, without implying the replacement or absence of the state. The analysis of the PCC and CV reveals differentiated configurations according to territorial, penitentiary, and organizational contexts, demonstrating a relational reconfiguration of power and authority in specific social spaces.
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