Protest Campaigns and Civil Wars

The presence of protests, sometimes during violent conflict and civil war, across the globe, seems to contradict the common view that civil war and protests are mutually exclusive episodes and do not belong to a continuum. Instead, peaceful – and less peaceful – protests can coincide with civil war and other forms of armed violence like civil war. This article reflects and questions the dominant understanding that violent conflict and protests are disconnected forms of conflict and contention. To achieve this aim, the chapter discusses how both phenomena have been explained and theorized. The document starts examining similarities and differences in the definition and understanding of civil war, on the one hand, and protests and protest campaigns (Chenoweth & Lewis, 2013) . Departing from the important work of T.R. Gurr (2011) and others (Skocpol, 1979; Tilly, 2006), on protest, rebellion and violent conflict in the process of state-building, this article research aims to reevaluate how protest campaings and civil war can relate t

Mathematical Modelling and “Ethnic Conflict” in Colombia : the Impact of the Unit and the Level of Analysis

Reflecting on methodology means thinking about decisions a researcher makes when approaching the subject of study, in terms of questions posed, concepts embraced and choice of methods. There are also epistemological and ontologica

Inequality, Social Protests and Civil War

The following article presents a series of hypotheses to analyze the possible transitions between protest and civil war and their relation to inequality. To do so, the article presents an analysis on the emergence of protests and its relation with the increase in inequality across the world. This increase in inequality can in fact lead to social unrest, instability and in some cases facilitate the emergence of future armed conflicts. Thus this scenario of increased inequality presents different possible trajectories:1) protest generated by inequality can escalate into civil conflicts and civil war, or 2) protest generated by inequality can facilitate processes of participation and democratic consolidation. The possibility of either of these transitions taking place is defined by the structural conditions that define the interactions between protestors and authorities in particular settings

Mathematical modelling and ‘ethnic conflict’ in Colombia: the Impact of the Unit and the Level of Analysis

Reflecting on methodology means thinking about decisions a researcher makes when approaching the subject of study, in terms of questions posed, concepts embraced and choice of methods. There are also epistemological and ontological assumptions underlying the selection of particular methodologies and concepts, though this is less often explicitly considered. Therefore within these considerations, the definition of the unit of analysis and the levels at which the study is conducted, need to be made explicit and to be justified, for quality in research. This chapter discusses these issues taking the example of Colombia, to show how some violent conflicts fall between the cracks of currently dominant methodologies of mathematical modeling and the use of existing econometric datasets, on the one hand, and the ways ethnicity is included in those models and datasets. Ethnic identities have mostly been the focus of studies by anthropologists, often focused on local level struggle sand claims, whereas a national level perspective is still

Protests and Conflict

It is argued that civil war and protests are mutually exclusive processes. However, the prevalence of protests and their proximity with or simultaneity to armed conflict contradicts this idea. Conflict and confrontation involve different types of interactions between the state and its opponents, which can involve protests, mass mobilization, clashes, and even armed conflict. Thus, we can understand conflict as existing in a continuum. Analyzing protests and protestors as related to armed conflict may serve to widen our understanding of conflict. This chapter presents the case for linking protest with a wider understanding of conflict, considering its links with other categories of contestation such as armed conflict. We can thus envision different types of contestation as being related. If we consider this possibility, we can then analyze processes of escalation and de-escalation between different expresions of contestation. This chapter reflects on the similarities and differences between different categories used to understand contestation, focusing on the categories of protests, civil conflict, and civil war. I claim that while a distinction between protests and armed violence is often made on the basis of the degree of violence involved in these pro

Transitional justice and the ‘Colombian peace process’

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book begins with a brief history of the conflict and of previous peace processes, making the case that the current peace process is best understood in relation to the wider historical process of state consolidation and successive peace attempts in Colombia. The book discusses in detail the agreements between the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejercito del Pueblo (FARC—EP) and the Colombian Government and its transitional justice component. The book focuses on identifying the challenges facing the implementation of the objectives of the transitional justice component of the peace agreement between the FARC—EP and the Colombian Government. It examines the challenges encountered in relation to policies regarding land and its restitution in Colombia. The Colombian Government has implemented and experimented with a diversity of measures in pursuit of justice and transitional justice in Colombia

A long walk for justice

This conclusion presents some closing thoughts on the key concepts discussed in the preceding chapters of this book. The book recognizes the importance of both retributive and restorative justice practices, but advocates that a more holistic understanding of peacebuilding should transcend dichotomies between these pre-defined categories. Peacebuilding and justice can be exercises of post-colonial thinking. However, even more balanced interpretations of the approaches to peace and justice advanced in the North are unlikely to apply across the South. The promise of peace and justice brought by the transitional justice agreement is tempered by the challenges that lay ahead. Colombia is a country that has sought peace for more than three decades, with multiple attempts involving different actors, approaches, and negotiation schemes, and with differing degrees of success. Inequality and class in Colombia marginalize millions of Colombians on the basis of their accent or skin colour

Right-wing populism and the mainstreaming of protests:The case of Colombia

Unlike other Latin American countries, Colombia has consistently been governed by centre-right or right-wing political parties. The absence of political space for the Left in this country allowed governments to portray protests as subversive and criminal. However, starting in 2008, right-wing politicians have embraced, supported and used the protest as a tactic; undertaking, calling for, and giving support to various protest movements across the country. This has had an unexpected consequence: right-wing parties, government institutions, and even some sectors within the security and armed forces now see protests as valid and normal. Drawing on a brief historical analysis of protest movements in Colombia since 1948, and particularly after 2002, this article argues that to understand the recent normalization of this form of political expression we should look at changes in the dynamics of competition within the Right

Conflict and peace in the making : Colombia from 1948–2010

This chapter discusses the evolution of the Colombian conflict and the existence of peacebuilding initiatives with different groups as part of the process of consolidation of statehood in Colombia since 1948. It presents a brief summary of the Colombian conflict, and of previous peace processes that took place in the country after 1948. The emergence of violence in modern Colombia saw its inception in the period known as 'La Violencia' (the violence), a wave of inter-party violence between 1948 and 1958 in which almost 2" of the population of the country was assassinated. This process led to the rise of multiple liberal guerrilla groups and armed right-wing groups. The birth and the origins of the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia—Ejercito del Pueblo are a matter of academic debate; the fourteen different accounts of the origin of the conflict in Colombia presented by the historical commission of the conflict of Colombia

Trumping the agenda? The continuity and discontinuity in foreign affairs between the U.S. and Colombia

The ability of the United States (U.S.) to influence policies in Colombia is indisputable. The U.S. is Colombia’s largest trading partner, and this alone provides the U.S. with great power with regards to Colombian policymaking. U.S. power is not only manifest within the economic realm, though, as Colombia is a consumer of many U.S. cultural products, but U.S. political decisions also greatly inform Colombian policymaking. However, the nature of decisions in the U.S., and their influence, only partially explains policies in Colombia. Domestic policies also remain shaped by the configuration of different actors, agendas, and interests within the country itself. In this chapter, we argue that although there are shifts in the agenda between both countries, we should not understand these changes as only due to the rhetoric and the style brought by the Trump government. The policy changes also relate to internal political processes within Colombia, alongside other external factors