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Colombian Paramilitaries Since Demobilization: Between State Crackdown and Increased Violence

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Krzysztof Krakowski
Krzysztof Krakowski*
Affiliation:
Department of Political and Social Science, European University Institute. krzysztof.krakowski@eui.eu
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Abstract

This article addresses the puzzle of heterogeneous trends in paramilitary violence on the Colombian Pacific Coast since the beginning of the disarmament, demobilization, and reintegration (DDR) process in 2003. The usual explanations derived from political conflict theories are improved with insights from organized crime research. The article argues that the occasional escalation of post-DDR paramilitary violence at the subregional level cannot be explained by the weakness of the state argument. Instead, the article demonstrates the counterintuitive evidence that paramilitary violence correlates positively with the incidence of state repressive intervention against paramilitary groups. More specifically, paramilitaries challenged by the state use more violence, either to replace their nonviolent resources most affected by law enforcement activities or to respond to crackdown-related intensification of predatory tendencies within their respective organizations.

Type
Research
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 57 , Issue 4 , Winter 2015 , pp. 28 - 50
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2015

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