- Political Scientist
- Criminologist
- Field Researcher
Jorge A.
Mantilla
PhD in Sociology, Law and Justice. Studying criminal governance, borderlands, organized violence, and the political economy of climate change across Latin America and beyond.
About me
Scholar. Practitioner. Field Researcher
I am a Political Scientist and a Criminologist interested in contributing to a deeper understanding of the political economy of crime and its impacts on governance dynamics in the Americas, with a particular attention to the ways in which illicit economies, informal institutions, and state practices interact in contexts of inequality and limited regulatory capacity. My work contributes to core debates in the sociology of crime, political science, and Latin American studies by analyzing crime not merely as deviance or institutional failure, but as a mode of governance that shapes social order, authority, and everyday life. While my empirical focus has been primarily on Latin America, I approach the region not as a specialist niche but as a theoretically generative site for advancing sociological and political explanations of power, institutions, and inequality.
As an engaged public intellectual, throughout my career and in complementary work that complements my academic background, I have served for over a decade as an advisor, consultant, and practitioner to local governments, NGOs, and international organizations in highly complex contexts. Although I have specialized in Colombia, Ecuador, and Venezuela, I have also conducted fieldwork in Mexico, the United States, and Brazil. This means that my scholarship and research are publicly engaged and socially rooted, advancing transformative approaches to crime and violence that inform practice and contribute to a just society.
Interests & Expertise
Research
Investigating Power, Crime, and Politics in Contested Territories
My research agenda spans three interconnected themes each grounded in extensive fieldwork and committed to methodological pluralism, combining ethnography, elite interviews, and institutional analysis.
Ongoing Projects
Criminal Governance & Borderlands
How do organized crime groups develop state-like capacities, regulate social order, and co-produce governance in contested territories with a focus on the Colombia-Venezuela borderland?
Contested Amazon: Environmental Crimes and the Politics and the Climate Tipping Point
What is the relation between law enforcement and the Amazon Tipping Point? How do enforcement patterns reproduce or mitigate environmental injustices in Amazonian borderlands and their impacts on marginalized and racialized communities? This project investigates the political economy of environmental crimes enforcement in the Northwest Amazon borderlands, focusing on Colombia, Venezuela, Brazil, and Peru.
Global Tech Order & Legitimacy
How can a global tech order emerge when the world’s rule-based order no longer exists? In this project, I examine how war, human rights, and climate change are three critical arenas in which actors within the global tech order seek to convert competition into legitimate authority.
Selected Publications
2025
From Conventional Insurgency to Binational Criminal Syndicate? ELN’s State Capture in the Colombia-Venezuela Borderland
Small Wars & Insurgencies, Vol. 36(4) — with Andreas E. Feldmann
2024
Post-insurgencies and Criminal Subcultures: The Influence of Colombian Organized Crime in Ecuador’s Armed Conflict
Small Wars Journal
2023
Why Cities Fail: The Urban Security Crisis in Ecuador
Journal of Strategic Security, Vol. 16(3) — with Carolina Andrade & María Fernanda Vallejo
2021
Criminal Governance in Latin America
Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Criminology and Criminal Justice — with Andreas E. Feldmann
2021
Street Urban Peace in Contested Informalities: The Hidden Face of Colombia’s War on Drugs
Journal of Illicit Economies and Development (LSE Press)
2021
Contested Borders: Organized Crime, Governance, and Bordering Practices in Colombia-Venezuela Borderlands
Trends in Organized Crime, 24(2) — with Viviana García Pinzón
Consulting
From Field Insight to Policy Impact
Grounded in over a decade of fieldwork and policy engagement, I advise governments, international organizations, and NGOs on conflict dynamics, organized crime, security policy, and environmental governance.
European Union / FCDS & Instituto Igarapé
Amazon Security Coordinator Security, Conflict & Environment (2025)
European Institute of Peace (EIP)
Regional Advisor, Colombia & Venezuela (2024)
Pan American Development Foundation (PADF)
Extortion & Organized Crime Consultant, Ecuador (2023)
Inter-American Development Bank (IDB)
Migration & Security Consultant (2021)
Ideas for Peace Foundation (FIP), Colombia
Director, Conflict & Organized Violence (2021–2023)
Bogotá Security Secretariat
Territorial Interventions Advisor (2014–2017)
Conflict Analysis
In-depth analysis of armed conflict dynamics, peace negotiations, and post-conflict transitions in Latin America.
Organized Crime Assessments
Fieldwork-based research on criminal governance, extortion markets, drug trafficking, and criminal group dynamics.
Environmental Security
Analysis of environmental crimes, illegal mining, deforestation, and wildlife trafficking as security threats in the Amazon.
Policy & Advocacy
Strategic communication and advocacy design for international, national, and local actors working in fragile environments.
Security Sector Reform
Technical support for citizen security policy, urban intervention protocols, and law enforcement reform processes.
Training & Lectures
Academic and practitioner training on criminology, political economy of crime, conflict resolution, and peace processes.
Media & Public Engagement
Translating Research into Public Debate
Ideas for Peace Foundation (FIP)
Conflict and Organized Violence in Colombia
Regular technical and public policy documents on armed conflict dynamics, peace negotiations, and the Colombian Total Peace process.
2021 — 2023
Global Initiative Against Transnational Organized Crime
Expert Profile: Criminal Governance in Latin America
Contributing analyst on organized crime, borderlands, and criminal governance in the GI-TOC network of global experts.
Ongoing
Policy Briefs & Reports
Ecuador: The Urban Security Crisis in Guayaquil
Detailed analysis of the rise of violence and organized crime in Ecuador's main port city produced for the Pan American Development Foundation.
2023
Amazon Research Initiative
Environmental Crime as a Security Threat in the Amazon
Cross-border analysis of environmental crimes illegal mining, deforestation and their relationship to organized violence and the Amazon tipping point.
2025
Universidad Nacional de Colombia
Teaching: Political Economy of Crime & Peace Processes
Courses on criminological theories, drugs and society, comparative criminal justice, and conflict resolution across UIC, Universidad del Rosario, and UNAL.
2013 — Present
Let's Talk
Open to Collaboration, Consulting & Research
Whether you are a researcher, institution, journalist, or organization working on issues of conflict, security, crime, or environmental governance I would be glad to hear from you.
Bogotá, Colombia, Available internationally