Håvar Solheim is an Assistant Professor at the Institute for History.

More information about Havar Solheim

Fields of interest

- Latin American history and international relations
- Public policy and state-civil society relations
- Security, organized crime and violence
- Environmental crime  

Research

Security management in urban Latin America

This research aims at analysing the complex issues at play in ensuring public safety and upholding the law in the Latin American city, as well as how trust and legitimacy is built and maintained in the eyes of the citizens. The approach is twofold: firstly, the study seeks to analyse the horizontal interaction between the municipal government and police in both designing and implementing security policies, as well as the more managerial interaction between these two entities on a daily basis. Secondly, the research studies the vertical relation between the state and civil society in security matters.  

Curriculum Vitae

He was born in Norway and came to live in the Netherlands in 2006. He obtained a BA in Latin American Studies from the University of Bergen, Norway, and thereafter completed the two-year Research Master programme in Latin American Studies at Leiden University. After a three-year spell working in the private sector, he obtained a PhD position at Leiden University/CEDLA Amsterdam to conduct a four-year research into public security management in Bogotá, Colombia. In 2016 he obtained his PhD degree entitled Gobernabilidad y gestión local de la seguridad: la relación entre el gobierno municipal y la policía en Bogotá, 1995-2015. In the recent couple of years, he has worked as a consultant, as well as provided guest lectures at the Netherlands Institute for International Relations Clingendael on security issues in Latin America, before assuming the current position at the university.    

Key publications

Solheim, H. and Peña González, R. (2020) El “Estado teatro” en escenarios de conflicto. Análisis de casos de teatralización de la justicia en México y Colombia. Revista O Público e o Privado, Fortaleza. Accepted for publication.

Solheim, H. (2018) An important contribution to anyone interested in crime and police in Latin America [Review of the book Lila Caimari, While the city sleeps. A history of pistoleros, policemen, and the crime beat in Buenos Aires before Péron, by L. Caimari]. Tijdschrift voor Geschiedenis, 131.2. Amsterdam.

Solheim, H. (2017) Latin America’s Problem: What to Expect and What Should be Done. Pulsamérica Magazine (www.pulsamerica.co.uk).

Solheim, H. (2016) Gobernabilidad y gestión local de la seguridad: la relación entre el gobierno municipal y la policía en Bogotá, 1995-2015. Doctoral thesis. Leiden University.  

Solheim, H. and Storm H.J. (2013), War and Peace in Colombia. In: Hwang Y.-J., Cerna L. (Eds.) Global Challenges: Peace and War. Leiden: Martinus Nijhof Publishers. 177-194.

Solheim, H. (2013), Legitimidad, eficacia, y relación interinstitucional entre autoridades civiles y Policiales en Bogotá, 1995-2012. In: Silva, P. y Rojas Aravena, F. Gobernabilidad y Convivencia Democrática en América Latina: Las dimensiones regionales, nacionales y locales. Costa Rica: FLACSO. 127-156.

Solheim, H. (2007), Urban Violence, Social Capital and the Urban Poor in Bogotá, Colombia. In: Elbahri et al. Deconstruction and Re-construction of Livelihoods in Latin America. Top-Down Challenges and People´s Initiatives. Amsterdam: CEDLA. 45-59.

Publications

Activities