Secutiry, peace and development

Ecuador is going through one of the most critical moments in its democratic history. In just a decade, the country has gone from being considered an “island of peace” to recording the highest homicide rates in the region, experiencing unprecedented prison massacres, and facing the expansion of organized crime with a great capacity for institutional infiltration. Security, Peace, and Development brings together the diverse perspectives of academics from different disciplines—communication, sociology, psychology, education, law, and political science—to understand a phenomenon that is no longer circumstantial but has become structural.

This work analyzes the root causes of insecurity: the weakening of the state, the economic crisis, normalized violence in everyday life, the fragility of the justice system, the absence of sustained social policies, and the emergence of illicit economies. The authors also highlight transformative experiences in non-formal education, government communication, the culture of legality, and the reconstruction of the social fabric.

Far from offering recipes, the book invites us to think about comprehensive solutions that bring together the state, civil society, private enterprise, and academia. Its proposal is clear: only through a multidisciplinary and collaborative approach will it be possible to restore coexistence, strengthen institutions, and move toward a sustainable model of peace and development.