In this episode, Professor Benjamin Lessing unpacks the dynamics of organized crime and informal governance in Brazil. He discusses how extra-legal organizations operate as alternative authority structures—stepping into the vacuum left by weak state presence. Traditional law enforcement often fails to dismantle them, requiring innovations in policymaking aimed at reducing violence in the country. Lessing highlights what works—and what doesn’t—when the state seeks to reassert its authority. Professor Benjamin Lessing is a political scientist at the University of Chicago, specializing in criminal governance, state capacity, and Brazilian politics.
This podcast is produced in partnership with the Pearson Institute for the Study and Resolution of Global Conflicts. For more information, please visit their website at
www.thepearsoninstitute.org.
Podcast Production Credits:
Interviewing: Isabella Nascimento, Fernanda Garcia, Gil do Vigor
Editing: Megha Viswanath
Production: Isabella Nascimento