ABSTRACT
Latin America as a region has suffered long periods of unrest for centuries that has consequently affected its regional stability to a high degree. During the twentieth century, several dictatorships in South America divided the countries internally, provoking lengthy transitions towards full democracies and the implementation of the rule of law in the 1980s. Moreover, Central America suffered various civil wars, resulting in more political and social instability. This led many Latin American countries to establish ‘Commissions of the truth’ with the aim of reconciling and healing their societies. Consequently, the development of governmental justice and home affairs institutions was confronted with numerous challenges simultaneously. Another key variable for understanding the difficulties in strengthening these institutions is the deep degree of economic inequality. Relative poverty, alongside high levels of corruption inherited from dictatorships, has fostered the proliferation of organized crime groups. Honduras has the highest murder rate in the world (UNODC 2013), and Mexico and Colombia are, to some extent, considered security failures – not failed states – due to the power accumulated by organized crime groups and the lack of control over regions within the state (Kenny and Serrano 2012). At the same time, the European Union has not demonstrated any considerable interest in the region, mostly because it is geographically far away. This created a generalized perception, at least until recently, that justice and home affairs issues in Latin America did not affect Europe directly.
