From War to Peace: Security and the Stabilization of Colombia

María Teresa Pozo Llorente

doi:10.5334/sta.gq

Abstract

Foreword for the Special Collection Citizen Security Dialogues in Colombia: Controlling the territory and building security and justice in post-conflict contexts From war to peace: security and the stabilization of Colombia, gathers research form leading scholars and practitioners to discuss key topics regarding recent developments around the peace process, between national government and the FARC rebels, in Colombia. After taking into account the impact of security policies implemented during the first decade of the twenty-first century (demobilization of paramilitary groups, strengthening of national armed forces and the containment and weakening of guerrilla groups), this issue further explores challenges, as well as policy options, faced by the state during a post conflict scenario, given a positive outcome of the ongoing peace process. Specifically, and using a broad data analysis, issues such as the ability of organized crime to sabotage post-conflict policy implementation, the absence of state and the rule of law in isolated areas of the country or the importance of local justice as an institutional strengthening strategy for stabilization, are addressed in order to draw important conclusions regarding the problems associated to the persistence of ungoverned and unstable territories in post-conflict contexts all over the world.

Highlights

Colombia is currently in the midst of a negotiation process to end the conflict with the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC by its Spanish acronym)1, the oldest leftist guerrilla group in the western hemisphere which has historically had the greatest capacity to challenge the Colombian State
These groups are heavily associated with drug trafficking, illegal mining, contraband, and other criminal practices that have increased over the last few years, including extortion and ‘micro-trafficking’. This issue is not prevalent in all of the national territory. It is concentrated in at least a quarter of the municipalities in the country – mainly rural, peripheral, and border areas that have been trapped in cycles of violence for decades and whose unsatisfied basic needs indexes are at levels well below the national average (Fundación Paz y Reconciliación 2015)
Local institutions are chronically weak, social regulation is more under the control of the illegal armed actors than the state, and informal and criminal businesses are the principal means of subsistence

Summary

Introduction

Colombia is currently in the midst of a negotiation process to end the conflict with the Armed Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC by its Spanish acronym)1, the oldest leftist guerrilla group in the western hemisphere which has historically had the greatest capacity to challenge the Colombian State. There exists a complex security context that involves other illegal armed actors, especially criminal group heirs to the paramilitaries who demobilized ten years ago.

Results

Conclusion