Colombia Internacional
ISSN/EISSN: 01215612 19606004
Subject:
Political Science
Publisher: Universidad de los Andes (Bogotá)
Country: Colombia
Language: English, Spanish
Start year 1988
Publication fee:
No
--- Further Information
Journal homepage at publisher site
Article
Article
Loading...
Loading...There is mounting evidence that natural resources can influence the likelihood, course and outcome of armed conflicts. Much of these relationships depend on the institutional setting in which the conflict and resource exploitation occurs, and the specific characteristics of resources involved. This paper examines the relevance of two broad resource characteristics—lootability and legality—for conflict termination initiatives. Observing revenue sharing, economic sanction and military interventions in a total of 26 conflicts between 1989 and 2006, the paper suggests that resource characteristics can affect the effectiveness of resource-related conflict termination instruments.
Article
Loading...
Loading...Recent research has increasingly questioned the link between natural resources and violent conflict while stressing the importance of resource-specific context conditions under which internal conflicts become more likely. This paper engages in a systematic analysis of six of these resource-specific conditions comparing 15 African oil and diamond producing countries. Employing a Boolean logic, the results of our analysis indicate that, typically, a conflict-ridden diamond or oil producer is highly dependent on resources, its revenues are hardly spent on distributional policies and the security apparatus and, moreover, it suffers from intercommunal problems in the producing regions. Little income from resources per capita and substantial production of lootable resources in peripheral regions seem to constitute necessary conditions for civil war. Thus, our findings imply that future theoretical models and empirical strategies should integrate the full set of (resource specific) context conditions. Efforts to raise a more integrative approach combining quantitative and qualitative research designs seem particularly promising.
Article
Loading...
Loading...Illegality does not necessarily breed violence. The relationship between illicit markets and violence depends on institutions of protection. When state-sponsored protection rackets form, illicit markets can be peaceful. Conversely, the breakdown of state-sponsored protection rackets, which may result from well-meaning policy reforms intended to reduce corruption and improve law enforcement, can lead to violence. The cases of drug trafficking in contemporary Mexico and Colombia show how a focus on the emergence and breakdown of state-sponsored protection rackets helps explain variation in levels of violence both within and across illicit markets.
Article
Loading...
Loading...In Colombia, the coexistence of democracy and armed conflict is considered to be a paradox (Posada 2006). This work intends to shed light on the consequences of armed conflict on the local levels of government, particularly on the effectiveness of the Colombian municipalities in providing basic services. In order to do that, I use municipal data from 2005 and, through an econometric analysis that includes spatial correlations, evaluate the impact of armed conflict on several health, education and basic sanitation indicators. The results show that armed conflict has affected the government effectiveness in providing such services. This leads one to think that, at least at the local levels, armed conflict would be putting at risk one of the basic principles of decentralization, the capacity to satisfy citizens’ needs through public service provision.
Article
Loading...
Loading...An estimated 33 million people are today infected with HIV, many living in conflict or post conflict settings. The international community is increasingly recognising the effect HIV/AIDS can have on national security and conflict, both exacerbating conflict and being an obstacle to peace. The article argues for considering HIV/AIDS as a security issue and concludes four main theories on the links between HIV/AIDS, national security and conflict: 1. Uniformed personnel as a vector of HIV, 2. National security threatened by HIV/AIDS affected state institutions, 3. Increased vulnerability to HIV infection in conflict and post-conflict environments, and 4. HIV as an obstacle to peace building. These four theories are explored in the Colombian context. Of the four theories investigated it was found that 1 and 3 presented the strongest linkages between HIV/AIDS, national security and conflict. The theories 2 and 4 were less strong, mainly due to the relatively low HIV prevalence rate in Colombia.
Article
Loading...
Loading...The article has as its main motivation and justification the proposition that the analyses about imperialism are still relevant at the present time and they need to occupy, with more frequency, the social scientists’ calendar. To this end, the objective of the work is to discuss the approaches to imperialism of Schumpeter and Hannah Arendt. I use the comparative method, in the sense of seeking the most important elements of each focus, and comparing them. It is a treatment of the theoretical and bibliographical research based on the authors’ own intellectual work, thus avoiding the commentators’ points of view. When looking to understand his object, the work did not just try to compare the theories of Schumpeter and Arendt, but it makes an attempt to turn to the historical concept, bringing to the surface important contributions such as those of Hobson (1985 [1894]), Luxemburg (1976 [1913]), Lenin (2007 [1916]) and Magdoff (1978 [1969]). The primary results obtained are that Schumpeter’s theories do not possess historical nor factual substantiation, while those of Arendt, do not explain the phenomenon separately, but they do contribute in a robust way to the understanding of some of their aspects.
Article
Loading...
Loading...This paper analyzes palm oil production based on theories on the relationship between resources and armed conflict, which state that financing resources are necessary for a conflict to continue. At first a review of the relevant literature on resource typologies and on the relationship between agricultural production and conflict is made. After this, data on the process of palm oil production is presented. Next it is shown how, in response to the claims that link palm oil to land problems, the Roundtable on Sustainable Palm Oil (RSPO) was created, and the case of Colombia, where there has been an association both between the crop and forced displacement as well as between palm oil and peace building processes. Based on the analysis of the data, the paper suggests that costs involved in the production process make the palm oil growers an easy target for armed groups. In addition, while the palm doesn’t produce forced displacement by itself, its process of production might generate incentives in that direction.
Article
Article
Article