Youth and Security

the policy of pacification

Abstract

This article is part of a research about narratives developed by youths in relation to violence and non-violence having as their focus the involvement of young people in pacificatory experiences as put forward by government projects and programs. It attempts to unveil the trajectory of young people according to their social relations with other young people who have involved themselves with violent actions and how they behave in relation to the state which in turn invest on youth security public policies. In this sense it investigates the Pilot Plan for the Prevention of Violence in Fortaleza, a branch of the National Public Security Plan. That project has presented itself as a positive policy for the young by means of investing on entrepreneurial courses and incentives to art and culture aiming in this fashion at inserting the young citizen in the pacificatory work. The project has on the other hand its limits and contradictions especially in relation to its lack of self-direction and continuity. Such contradictions show that some public policies have arisen more commonly as a response to claims put forward by popular movements in their effort to guarantee control and social agreement rather than ensuring the effective and civicminded participation by the people in decision-making processes related to public policies.