Connecting Weapons With Violence: The South American Experience

The document outlines the Towards Collaborative Peace (TCP) project, which examines how the proliferation of small arms and light weapons fuels a 'culture of violence' and undermines democratization in Southern Africa. The project employs a south-south comparative framework, contrasting trends in Southern Africa with those in South American Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay). Through field research and a series of publications, the TCP project aims to identify the dynamics of illegal weapons flows and develop regional control mechanisms and local educational packages to mitigate violence.

• Small arms and light weapons—including landmines, machine guns, grenades, pistols, and rocket launchers—are primary drivers of civilian casualties and abuses of authority during and after wars because they are standard issue during conflict and typically lack control during post-conflict processes.
• The proliferation of small arms in Southern Africa is driven by the distribution of existing massive stocks rather than new imports, which jeopardizes democratization and leads communities to abandon traditional conflict-resolution mechanisms in favor of violent solutions.
• The TCP project specifically examines the impact of failed demobilization and disarmament in Angola and Mozambique, and how the resulting surplus of weapons affects surrounding countries through porous borders.
• As part of its comparative south-south approach, the project analyzes firearm distribution patterns in Mercosur countries (Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay, and Uruguay) and investigates emerging cultures of violence in Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro.

APA

Der Ghoughassian, K., & Carneir, L. P. (1998). Connecting Weapons With Violence: The South American Experience. Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-25-connecting-weapons-with-violence-the-south-american-experience-by-khatchik-der-ghoughassian-snd-leandro-piquet-carneir

Chicago

Der Ghoughassian, Khatchik, and Leandro Piquet Carneir. Connecting Weapons With Violence: The South American Experience. Institute for Security Studies, 1998. https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-25-connecting-weapons-with-violence-the-south-american-experience-by-khatchik-der-ghoughassian-snd-leandro-piquet-carneir.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Der Ghoughassian |first1=Khatchik |last2=Carneir |first2=Leandro Piquet |title=Connecting Weapons With Violence: The South American Experience |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=March 1998 |url=https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-25-connecting-weapons-with-violence-the-south-american-experience-by-khatchik-der-ghoughassian-snd-leandro-piquet-carneir |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{derghoughassian1998connecting, author = {Der Ghoughassian, Khatchik and Carneir, Leandro Piquet}, title = {{Connecting Weapons With Violence: The South American Experience}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {1998}, month = mar, url = {https://issafrica.org/research/monographs/monograph-25-connecting-weapons-with-violence-the-south-american-experience-by-khatchik-der-ghoughassian-snd-leandro-piquet-carneir}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }