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The New Research on Civil Wars: Does It Help Us Understand the Colombian Conflict?

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 January 2018

Vanessa Joan Gray
Vanessa Joan Gray*
Affiliation:
University of Massachusetts, Lowell. vanessa_gray@uml.edu
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Abstract

The article synthesizes contributions from the recent comparative research on civil war and the case-specific literature on Colombia to argue that too often, commentators on this conflict overlook some of its key dimensions. A comprehensive analysis shows that no fewer than six factors are fueling violent conflict in Colombia: economic forces, state weakness, landscape, U.S. policies, long-duration and spin-off violence, and malicious opportunism by non-combatants. The first three are the ones that matter most. The case made here is that when analysts disregard the range and interrelatedness of the factors involved, the result is a distortion of reality and a tendency to support policies that will not enhance the prospects for peace.

Type
Research
Information
Latin American Politics and Society , Volume 50 , Issue 3 , Fall 2008 , pp. 63 - 91
Copyright
Copyright © University of Miami 2008

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