Changes, continuities and power relations in the organizational structure of the PNC, 1992-2016

Abstract

This article presents an analysis of the formal power networks of the different organizational structures of the Civil National Police (PNC) of El Salvador, from its foundation until the year 2016. For this purpose, the changes or continuities in organizational or institutional charts, which are related to the political conjunctures to which they respond. The Pajek software is used to study the police structure, with the objective of measuring the levels of power relations, from different measures of centrality, in the different units, directorates and deputy directorates, and other institutional bodies and dependencies, as well as the reduction or expansion of the organizational structure. The theoretical framework used provides a more complex perspective of what is presented in this paper. In that sense, the contributions of K. Faust, L. Freeman, R.A. Hanneman, D. Knoke, J. Scott, M. Weber, P. Baran, G. Zabludovsky, and other intellectuals who allow an approach to the study of networks and power is worthwhile highlighting. It is also important to mention the contribution of those who have studied the creation, emergence and internal problems of the PNC. In sum, the work aims to provide inputs to discuss the operation of the Police, as well as the performance of bureaucratic structures and the centrality of power; It also constitutes a precedent for the study of the networks of formal power within the Salvadoran police institution.