Guillermo Trejo on Accountability, Impunity, and the Fate of New Democracies

What happens when the violent state forged under autocracy survives into democracy?

Guillermo Trejo

In this episode of The Democracy Paradox, Kellogg faculty fellow Guillermo Trejo discusses his new book, Accountability Shock, coauthored with Lucía Tiscornia and Juan Albarracín. Trejo explains how authoritarian security forces can survive democratic transitions and fuel organized crime, and why truth commissions, prosecutions, and institutional reforms are essential tools for preventing violence and building more durable democracies.

The Democracy Paradox is made in partnership with the Kellogg Institute of the Keough School of Global Affairs at the University of Notre Dame. 

Read the full transcript here.

Key Highlights

• Introduction - 0:20
• What Is the State? - 3:23
• From Order to Crime - 9:12
• The Accountability Shock - 19:10
• Beyond Elections - 37:20

Links

Learn more about Guillermo Trejo.

Learn more about his book Accountability Shock: Why Transitional Justice Prevents Criminal Wars in New Democracies (Cambridge University Press, 2026)

Learn more about the Notre Dame Violence and Transitional Justice Lab.

Learn more about the Kellogg Institute.

Apes of the State created all Music

Email comments or questions to jkempf@democracyparadox.com

Support the show