Many poorer governments, especially in Latin America and parts of Africa, don’t truly rule their entire country. Huge slums, or favelas, are operated by highly networked and influential gangs. Some of these countries have staged large scale “takeovers” in recent years to try and move back in and seize control (see this great article in The New Yorker about one such failed raid in Jamaica). However, its not as easy as rolling in guns blazing, as an Atlantic Cities post entitled, The Challenge of Replacing Organized Crime with Governance states.

Prior to getting my Master of Public Policy, I hadn’t really spent much time thinking about the role of governmental institutions and the provision of public goods. After school, I seem to see this issues everywhere.

As the post in Atlantic Cities stated, many of these poorer slums are run by gangs but their power is not due solely to creating fear but also based on their the provision of public goods such as schools and health clinics. We see this scenario play out again and again. An area is left to a marginalized group of people who form an extra-governmental group to provide public goods. The marginalized population then shift their allegiance to the extra-governmental group and effectively are no longer under the control of the formal government.

This offers a couple of illuminating insights. First, if your organization wants to win the support of the general public you should be offering public goods. If, when a person is in need they turn to you and you can provide, you’ve won their support for a considerable amount of time.

Secondly, I think this story exhibits some of the truths about power relationships. Marginalized people, collectively, have great power. Their allegiance to organized crime gangs both gives power to them and takes it away from the government. A group of poor people living in the slum make their elected leaders feel vulnerable. If you are working with a marginalized population this is one of the greatest things that you can give to them, the knowledge that they have power and significance.

Lastly, societies cannot flourish if they allow any population to remain marginalized. Equality is not a lofty moral goal, it is a necessary one for the smooth functioning of society.