Transitional Justice in Times of Conflict: Colombia\u27s \u3cem\u3eLey de Justicia y Paz\u3c/em\u3e

The authors of this Article were committed to researching the impact of the paramilitary demobilization process on the ground -that is, conducting qualitative research that would allow us to test the validity of different debates with the goal of generating recommendations on how future conflict and post-conflict countries might benefit from the merging of DDR and transitional justice. In this text we draw upon the preliminary results of our research on the individual and collective demobilization programs. The first stage of the project included 112 in-depth interviews with demobilized combatants from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ej rcito del Pueblo (FARC-EP) (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People\u27s Army), the Ejjrcito de Liberaci6n Nacional (ELN), and the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia)

Violence, Identity and (In)security: Experiencing the Maoist Insurgency in Peru

This article argues that the position of political violence in developing countries has changed in the post?Cold War period, from being seen (by some) as a legitimate response to dictatorship to become associated with criminality and delinquency on the one hand and terrorism on the other. This provides a new context for ‘identity politics’, the definition of which has tended to become narrower and in practice more restrictive, leading to a hardening of ‘community’ boundaries. Taking the Maoist insurgency in Peru as a case study, the article enquires how identity, violence and security have been lived and understood by people in the Andean region. At the centre is an emblematic narrative of an indigenous schoolteacher who explores connections between his experiences of Peru's agrarian and education reforms, early support and later rejection of political violence, and the way his community envisioned and practised security in response

Transitional Justice in Times of Conflict: Colombia\u27s \u3cem\u3eLey de Justicia y Paz\u3c/em\u3e

The authors of this Article were committed to researching the impact of the paramilitary demobilization process on the ground -that is, conducting qualitative research that would allow us to test the validity of different debates with the goal of generating recommendations on how future conflict and post-conflict countries might benefit from the merging of DDR and transitional justice. In this text we draw upon the preliminary results of our research on the individual and collective demobilization programs. The first stage of the project included 112 in-depth interviews with demobilized combatants from the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia-Ej rcito del Pueblo (FARC-EP) (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People\u27s Army), the Ejjrcito de Liberaci6n Nacional (ELN), and the Autodefensas Unidas de Colombia (AUC) (United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia)

Désarmer le sujet : souvenirs de la guerre et citoyenneté imaginée au Pérou

La guerre et l’après-guerre sont de puissants modèles pour l’élaboration et la transmission d’histoires individuelles, collectives et nationales. Ces histoires reflètent l’expérience humaine mais elles la forment aussi, en traçant les contours de la mémoire collective et en produisant des effets de vérité. Ces histoires utilisent le passé de manière créative, en en combinant et recombinant les éléments au service d’intérêts du présent. Dans ce sens, l’appropriation délibérée de l’histoire implique à la fois mémoire et oubli – tous deux processus dynamiques imprégnés d’intentionnalité. Cet article explore les usages politiques des récits élaborés dans les villages ruraux du département d’Ayacucho au sujet de la guerre civile qui a déchiré le Pérou durant quelque quinze années. Chaque récit a un dessein politique et s’adresse à une audience à la fois interne et externe. En effet, le déploiement des récits de la guerre a beaucoup à voir avec la création de nouveaux rapports de pouvoir, d’ethnicité, de genre qui sont des composantes essentielles des redéfinitions contemporaines du politique dans cette région. Ces nouveaux rapports influencent la construction des pratiques démocratiques et les modèles de citoyenneté élaborés dans le contexte actuel.War and its aftermath serve as powerful motivators for the elaboration and transmission of individual, communal, and national histories. These histories both reflect and constitute human experience by contouring social memory and producing truth effects. These histories use the past in a creative manner, combining and recombining elements of that past that serve to interests in the present. In this sense, the conscious appropriation of history involves both remembering and forgetting—both being dynamic processes permeated with intentionality. This essay explores the political use of the narratives being elaborated in rural villages in the department of Ayacucho regarding the internal war that convulsed Peru for some fifteen years. Each narrative has a political intent and assumes both an internal and external audience. Indeed, the deployment of war narratives has much to do with forging new relations of power, ethnicity, and gender that are integral to the contemporary politics of the region. These new relations impact the construction of democratic practices and the model of citizenship being elaborated in the current context

Désarmer le sujet : souvenirs de la guerre et citoyenneté imaginée au Pérou

La guerre et l’après-guerre sont de puissants modèles pour l’élaboration et la transmission d’histoires individuelles, collectives et nationales. Ces histoires reflètent l’expérience humaine mais elles la forment aussi, en traçant les contours de la mémoire collective et en produisant des effets de vérité. Ces histoires utilisent le passé de manière créative, en en combinant et recombinant les éléments au service d’intérêts du présent. Dans ce sens, l’appropriation délibérée de l’histoire implique à la fois mémoire et oubli – tous deux processus dynamiques imprégnés d’intentionnalité. Cet article explore les usages politiques des récits élaborés dans les villages ruraux du département d’Ayacucho au sujet de la guerre civile qui a déchiré le Pérou durant quelque quinze années. Chaque récit a un dessein politique et s’adresse à une audience à la fois interne et externe. En effet, le déploiement des récits de la guerre a beaucoup à voir avec la création de nouveaux rapports de pouvoir, d’ethnicité, de genre qui sont des composantes essentielles des redéfinitions contemporaines du politique dans cette région. Ces nouveaux rapports influencent la construction des pratiques démocratiques et les modèles de citoyenneté élaborés dans le contexte actuel.War and its aftermath serve as powerful motivators for the elaboration and transmission of individual, communal, and national histories. These histories both reflect and constitute human experience by contouring social memory and producing truth effects. These histories use the past in a creative manner, combining and recombining elements of that past that serve to interests in the present. In this sense, the conscious appropriation of history involves both remembering and forgetting—both being dynamic processes permeated with intentionality. This essay explores the political use of the narratives being elaborated in rural villages in the department of Ayacucho regarding the internal war that convulsed Peru for some fifteen years. Each narrative has a political intent and assumes both an internal and external audience. Indeed, the deployment of war narratives has much to do with forging new relations of power, ethnicity, and gender that are integral to the contemporary politics of the region. These new relations impact the construction of democratic practices and the model of citizenship being elaborated in the current context

Social cognitive training improves emotional processing and reduces aggressive attitudes in ex-combatants

ABSTRACT: Emotional processing (EP) is a complex cognitive function necessary to successfully adjust to social environments where we need to interpret and respond to cues that convey threat or reward signals. Ex- combatants have consistently shown atypical EP as well as poor social interactions. Available reintegration programs aim to facilitate the re-adaptation of ex-combatants to their communities. However, they do not incorporate actions to improve EP and to enhance cognitive-emotional regulation. The present study was aimed at evaluating the usefulness of an intervention focused on Social Cognitive Training (SCT), which was designed to equip ex-combatants enrolled in the Social Reintegration Route with EP and social cognition skills. A group of 31 ex-combatants (mean age of 37.2, 29 men) from Colombian illegal armed groups were recruited into this study. Of these, 16 were invited to take part in a SCT and the other continued with the conventional reintegration intervention. Both groups underwent 12 training sessions in a period 12–14 weeks. They were assessed with a comprehensive protocol which included Psychosocial, Behavioral, and Emotion Processing instruments. The scores on these instruments prior to and after the intervention were compared within and between groups. Both groups were matched at baseline. Ex-combatants receiving the SCT experienced significant improvements in EP and a reduction in aggressive attitudes, effects not observed in those continuing the conventional reintegration intervention. This is the first study that achieves such outcomes in such a population using SCT intervention. We discuss the implications of such results toward better social reintegration strategies