Tina Hilgers, PhD

My research interests lie in urban and grassroots informal politics and my projects focus on clientelism, violence, and forms of resistance and resilience in marginalized communities in Latin America and the Caribbean. While my training is in comparative politics, my work is multidisciplinary, situated at the intersections of political science, sociology, geography, and anthropology. 

I have held several Social Science and Humanities Research Council of Canada and Fonds de recherche du Québec grants, including a current SSHRC Insight Grant for a project with Jean François Mayer, "Informality, Violence, and Resistance in Latin America and the Caribbean". I am also a researcher on the Fonds de recherche du Québec funded Équipe de recherche sur l'inclusion et la gouvernance en Amérique latine (Research Team on Inclusion and Governance in Latin America, erigal.org).

I direct Concordia's Lab for Latin American and Caribbean studies (llacs.ca) as well as the Informal Cities Working Group, and am a member of the Montreal Latin American Studies Network / Réseau d'études latino-américaines de Montréal (RÉLAM).

Research interests

POLI 203                Introduction to Comparative Politics
POLI 313                Urban Politics in Latin America
POLI 487                Informal Politics
POLI 487                Patronage Politics
POLI 487                Politics of Violence in Latin America
POLI 601 / 844       Research Design
POLI 681 / 811       Informal Politics and Development
POLI 681 / 811       Public Security and Violence in Latin America and the                                 Caribbean

Links to most publications are available at tinahilgers.ca

Underlining indicates student co-authors whose work I supervise for formal degree requirements, or whom I mentor through the Lab for Latin American and Caribbean Studies (LLACS) or through the Équipe de recherche sur l’inclusion et la gouvernance en Amérique latine (ÉRIGAL).

Books

Hilgers, Tina, and Laura Macdonald (eds). 2017. Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: Subnational Structures, Institutions, and Clientelistic Networks. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Hilgers, Tina, and Jorge Luiz Barbosa (eds). 2017. Identidade, território e política no contexto de violência na América latina e no Caribe. Rio de Janeiro: Observatorio de Favelas.

Hilgers, Tina (ed). 2012. Clientelism in Everyday Latin American Politics. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Guest Editorship of Journal Special Issues and Collections

Dias Felix, Annabelle, and Tina Hilgers (eds). 2022. “The Democratic Deficit of Community Oriented Policing.” Policing & Society Collection.

Journal Articles and Book Chapters

Hilgers, Tina, and Jean François Mayer. “Les défis de l’informalité” in Françoise Montambeault, Dan Furukawa Marques, and Nora Nagels (eds.) L’Amérique latine: gouvernance, inclusion et citoyenneté. Presses de L’Université de Montréal. In press.

Hilgers, Tina. “Clientelism” in Luis Macedo Pinto de Sousa and Susana Duarte Coroado (eds.) Encyclopaedia of Corruption. Edward Elgar. In press.

Hilgers, Tina, and Jean François Mayer. 2022. “Negociar Inclusão pelo Clientelismo: Democracias Neoliberais, Pobreza e Desigualdade.” Revista ExtraPrensa, 16(1): 52-81.

Davis, Diane, and Tina Hilgers. 2022. “The Pandemic and Organized Crime in Urban Latin America: New Sovereignty Arrangements or Business as Usual?” Journal of Illicit Economies and Development special issue "ILLICITIES – City-Making and Organized Crime" (eds. Frank Müller and Julienne Weegels), 4(3): 241-256.

Hilgers, Tina, Anna Calderon, and Maxime Honigmann. 2022. "Tensions between the Middle Class and the “New Middle Class” in Brazil: An Accidental Biographical Ethnography." Latin American Research Review 57(3): 536-553.

Hilgers, Tina. 2020. “Security, Resilience, and Participatory Urban Upgrading in Latin America and the Caribbean.” Development & Change 51(5): 1246-1270.

Dias Felix, Annabelle, and Tina Hilgers. 2020. “Community Oriented Policing Theory and Practice: Global Policy Diffusion or Local Appropriation?” Policing & Society, online DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10439463.2020.1776280

Hilgers, Tina. 2020. “Clientelism” in Olaf Kaltmeier, Anne Tittor, Daniel Hawkins, and Eleonora Rohland (eds) The Routledge Handbook to the Political Economy and Governance of the Americas. London: Routledge.

Hilgers, Tina. 2018. “Gestión” in Alena Ledeneva (ed.) Global Encyclopaedia of Informality. London: UCL Press. 

Hilgers, Tina. 2017. “Apresentação” in Tina Hilgers and Jorge Luiz Barbosa (eds) Identidade, território e política no contexto de violência na América latina. Rio de Janeiro: Observatorio de Favelas.

Hilgers, Tina, and Laura Macdonald. 2017. “As variações da violência: espaço subnacional, identidade e imersão” in Tina Hilgers and Jorge Luiz Barbosa (eds) Identidade, território e política no contexto de violência na América latina. Rio de Janeiro: Observatorio de Favelas.

Hilgers, Tina, and Laura Macdonald. 2017. “How Violence Varies: Subnational Place, Identity, and Embeddedness” in Tina Hilgers and Laura Macdonald (eds) Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: Subnational Structures, Institutions, and Clientelistic Networks. New York: Cambridge University Press. 

Hilgers, Tina, and Laura Macdonald. 2017. “Learning from Subnational Violence” in Tina Hilgers and Laura Macdonald (eds) Violence in Latin America and the Caribbean: Subnational Structures, Institutions, and Clientelistic Networks. New York: Cambridge University Press. 

Hilgers, Tina. 2013. “Reproducing Neoliberalism: the power of Canada’s poor,” Canadian Political Science Review, 7(1): 59-64.

Hilgers, Tina. 2012. “Democratic Processes, Clientelistic Relationships, and the Material Goods Problem” in Tina Hilgers (ed.) Clientelism in Everyday Latin American Politics, pp. 3-22. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Hilgers, Tina. 2012. “Clientelistic Democracy or Democratic Clientelism: A Matter of Context” in Tina Hilgers (ed.) Clientelism in Everyday Latin American Politics, pp. 161-185. New York: Palgrave Macmillan. 

Hilgers, Tina. 2011. “La relation complexe entre clientélisme et démocratie (cadre de référence fondé sur le cas du PRD dans la ville de Mexico),” Politique et Sociétés, 30(2): 123-146. 

Hilgers, Tina. 2011. “Clientelism and Conceptual Stretching: Differentiating among concepts and among analytical levels,” Theory and Society, 40(5): 567-588.

Hilgers, Tina. 2009. “Who is Using Whom? Clientelism from the Client’s Perspective,” Journal of Iberian and Latin American Research, 15(1): 51-76.

Hilgers, Tina. 2008. “Causes and Consequences of Political Clientelism: Mexico’s PRD in Comparative Perspective,” Latin American Politics and Society, 50(4): 123-53.

Hilgers, Tina. 2008. “Recentering Informality on the Research Agenda: Grassroots Action, Political Parties and Democratic Governance,” Latin American Research Review, 43(2): 272-81.