Violence, Inequality, and Borders: changes and continuities in territorial patterns in MERCOSUR after the pandemic (2017–2023)

Violence, Inequality, and Borders: changes and continuities in territorial patterns in MERCOSUR after the pandemic (2017–2023) | Research Square window.SnipcartSettings = { analytics: { enabled: false } }; (function() { var accessVector = localStorage.getItem('access_vector') || ''; window.dataLayer = window.dataLayer || []; if (accessVector) { window.dataLayer.push({ user: { profile: { profileInfo: { snid: accessVector } } } }); } })(); (function(w,d,s,l,i){w[l]=w[l]||[];w[l].push({'gtm.start':new Date().getTime(),event:'gtm.js'});var f=d.getElementsByTagName(s)[0],j=d.createElement(s),dl=l!='dataLayer'?'&l='+l:'';j.async=true;j.src='https://www.googletagmanager.com/gtm.js?id='+i+dl;f.parentNode.insertBefore(j,f);})(window,document,'script','dataLayer','GTM-K279D39R'); Browse Preprints In Review Journals COVID-19 Preprints AJE Video Bytes Research Tools Research Promotion AJE Professional Editing AJE Rubriq About Preprint Platform In Review Editorial Policies Our Team Advisory Board Help Center Sign In Submit a Preprint Cite Share Download PDF Research Article Violence, Inequality, and Borders: changes and continuities in territorial patterns in MERCOSUR after the pandemic (2017–2023) Jerórimo Ríos, Ismael De la Villa This is a preprint; it has not been peer reviewed by a journal. https://doi.org/ 10.21203/rs.3.rs-9086898/v1 This work is licensed under a CC BY 4.0 License Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Abstract Various studies on the relationship between violence and inequality both in Latin America and elsewhere have corroborated their relationship to each other and explored that relationship’s many dimensions in greater depth. During the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of governmental measures and practices to restrict mobility and the resulting border closures led to increased inequality in areas that are more dependent on informal and cross-border economies. This article seeks to determine the changes in the territorialisation of the relationship between violence and inequality at MERCOSUR's internal and external borders as a space for regional integration. Using different spatial econometric models, we examined violence’s territorial resilience and the transformations it underwent by comparing the years before and after the health crisis. Our findings suggest the resilience of homicidal violence in territories close to the bloc's borders and a change in the patterns in which it is configured and spreads as a result of the changing role played by local actors, regional institutions, the rigidity of the economic structures, and the absence of effective public policies on the part of governments. Inequality violence borders MERCOSUR COVID-19 Full Text Additional Declarations No competing interests reported. Cite Share Download PDF Status: Posted Version 1 posted You are reading this latest preprint version Research Square lets you share your work early, gain feedback from the community, and start making changes to your manuscript prior to peer review in a journal. As a division of Research Square Company, we’re committed to making research communication faster, fairer, and more useful. We do this by developing innovative software and high quality services for the global research community. Our growing team is made up of researchers and industry professionals working together to solve the most critical problems facing scientific publishing. Also discoverable on Platform About Our Team In Review Editorial Policies Advisory Board Help Center Resources Author Services Accessibility API Access RSS feed Manage Cookie Preferences © Research Square 2026 | ISSN 2693-5015 (online) Privacy Policy Terms of Service Do Not Sell My Personal Information {"props":{"pageProps":{"initialData":{"identity":"rs-9086898","acceptedTermsAndConditions":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"archivedVersions":[],"articleType":"Research Article","associatedPublications":[],"authors":[{"id":614787552,"identity":"817bd191-ed99-42cc-b140-b3941e710fbb","order_by":0,"name":"Jerórimo Ríos","email":"data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgoAAAANSUhEUgAAAZAAAAAyAQMAAABI0h/eAAAABlBMVEX///8AAABVwtN+AAAACXBIWXMAAA7EAAAOxAGVKw4bAAAA0ElEQVRIiWNgGAWjYBACxgYQaQBjVpCu5QzpdrYRoYi5vffh44KCbXIM0ocbH/6cd1het4H58Ae85vYcNzaeYXDbmIEvsdmYd9thw20H2NIk8GqZkcYmzWNwO7GBh7FNmnHb4QSzAzxm+F0//xlCi+TPOSAt/J/xO2wGG0KLBG8D2BYG/A7rSWM2BmoxZuNhbDbmOZZuuO0wmxleLYbtxxgf8/y5LcfPw/7w4Y8aa3mz482P8TrMsAHKYIMLMeNTDwTyBORHwSgYBaNgFDAwAABXaEHluDjyigAAAABJRU5ErkJggg==","orcid":"","institution":"Complutense University of Madrid","correspondingAuthor":true,"prefix":"","firstName":"Jerórimo","middleName":"","lastName":"Ríos","suffix":""},{"id":614787553,"identity":"2657effa-4ffd-4ca7-a6af-f4bcaafac53d","order_by":1,"name":"Ismael De la Villa","email":"","orcid":"","institution":"Complutense University of Madrid","correspondingAuthor":false,"prefix":"","firstName":"Ismael","middleName":"De la","lastName":"Villa","suffix":""}],"badges":[],"createdAt":"2026-03-10 18:08:18","currentVersionCode":1,"declarations":"","doi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9086898/v1","doiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9086898/v1","draftVersion":[],"editorialEvents":[],"editorialNote":"","failedWorkflow":false,"files":[{"id":105905451,"identity":"8de81944-3f1f-4d9f-9b91-7941c7bff004","added_by":"auto","created_at":"2026-04-01 10:12:10","extension":"pdf","order_by":1,"title":"","display":"","copyAsset":false,"role":"manuscript-pdf","size":563685,"visible":true,"origin":"","legend":"","description":"","filename":"RiosDelaVillaGeoJou.pdf","url":"https://assets-eu.researchsquare.com/files/rs-9086898/v1_covered_476ce711-e840-47de-a87c-12e03473c475.pdf"}],"financialInterests":"No competing interests reported.","formattedTitle":"Violence, Inequality, and Borders: changes and continuities in territorial patterns in MERCOSUR after the pandemic (2017–2023)","fulltext":[],"fulltextSource":"","fullText":"","funders":[],"hasAdminPriorityOnWorkflow":false,"hasManuscriptDocX":false,"hasOptedInToPreprint":true,"hasPassedJournalQc":"","hasAnyPriority":false,"hideJournal":true,"highlight":"","institution":"","isAcceptedByJournal":false,"isAuthorSuppliedPdf":true,"isDeskRejected":"","isHiddenFromSearch":false,"isInQc":false,"isInWorkflow":false,"isPdf":true,"isPdfUpToDate":true,"isWithdrawnOrRetracted":false,"journal":{"display":true,"email":"[email protected]","identity":"researchsquare","isNatureJournal":false,"hasQc":true,"allowDirectSubmit":true,"externalIdentity":"","sideBox":"","snPcode":"","submissionUrl":"/submission","title":"Research Square","twitterHandle":"researchsquare","acdcEnabled":true,"dfaEnabled":false,"editorialSystem":"","reportingPortfolio":"","inReviewEnabled":false,"inReviewRevisionsEnabled":true},"keywords":"Inequality, violence, borders, MERCOSUR, COVID-19","lastPublishedDoi":"10.21203/rs.3.rs-9086898/v1","lastPublishedDoiUrl":"https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9086898/v1","license":{"name":"CC BY 4.0","url":"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/"},"manuscriptAbstract":"\u003cp\u003eVarious studies on the relationship between violence and inequality both in Latin America and elsewhere have corroborated their relationship to each other and explored that relationship\u0026rsquo;s many dimensions in greater depth. 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