Who we are
The Millennium Institute for Research on Violence and Democracy (Instituto Milenio para la Investigación en Violencia y Democracia, VioDemos), created in 2021, is financed by the Millennium Scientific Initiative of the Chilean Agency on Research and Development (Agencia Nacional de Investigación y Desarrollo, ANID) as a result of the collaboration between the Pontifical Catholic University of Chile and Alberto Hurtado University.
The objective of VioDemos is to develop a comprehensive analysis of how everyday and exceptional forms of state and non-state violence affect the practices of citizenship and democratic governance in Chile, through a strategy of comparative and interdisciplinary research and historical analysis.
The Center develops a theoretical approach linking violence and democracy, addressing daily, criminal, and political violence in a common framework. It also establishes dialogues between anthropology, sociology, criminology, political science, law, and art and performance in interdisciplinary research projects.
VioDemos drives empirical studies and innovative conceptualization which address the imbrications between structural, symbolic, and direct violence, identifying practices which break these cycles of violence. We develop new ways of evaluating the quality of democracy considering how violence affects the internal operation and quality of state institutions and civil practices. VioDemos seeks to contribute with public organizations and NGOs, producing useful innovative research for public policies through comparative and interdisciplinary perspectives.
