Security performance measurement systems for local governments

Intergovernmental performance measurement frameworks for local coercive capacities

Abstract

This article seeks to identify the characteristics of intergovernmental performance measurement schemes that evaluate local government capacities in managing security and coexistence, aiming to propose a performance measurement framework for subnational governments in Colombia. National and federal governments require performance measurement tools for local governments that provide objective instruments for intergovernmental relations. These schemes are developed in a context where the securitization of public agendas coincides with the increasing role of subnational governments in managing security and coexistence under the conceptual frameworks of citizen and human security. Latin America faces a security and coexistence crisis while also struggling to transition from performance measurement schemes for local governments to performance management systems. This challenge is even greater when measuring capacities related to security and coexistence. International experiences in measuring local government capacities in managing security and coexistence reveal a mismatch between the measurement objectives, which are reflected in dimensions aiming to comprehensively address local security problems (such as contexts of inequality and poverty, community participation, or respect for human rights), and the measurements expressed through indicators that focus on the traditional perspective of outcomes related to criminal behavior and high-impact crimes