Institutions, Military Policy, and Human Rights in Colombia

Datos Bibliográficos

ID4501153
AutoresWilliam Avilés (0000-0003-1468-1719, Department of Political Science at the University of California, Riverside, autor de correspondencia)
Año2001
Volumen28
Número1
Páginas31-55
Fecha de publicación2001-01-01
Peer ReviewedSí
Open AccessSí
TipoARTICLE
RevistaLatin American Perspectives (JOURNAL)
Identificadores de la revistaISSN: 0094-582X • E-ISSN: 1552-678X
EditorialSAGE Publications Inc (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1177/0094582x0102800103
PMID17580411
OpenAlexW2030010605
IdiomaEN
Citas recibidas8
Referencias citadas24

In the past 20 years the people of Colombia have experienced increasing social and political violence. This political violence reached extreme levels during the administration of President Ernesto Samper (1994-1998), as 15,000 Colombians became victims of political killings (Bland, 1998:10). A central part of this violence has been the counterinsurgency war being waged by the government against well-armed guerrilla armies, with noncombat killings related to this war generally exceeding killings in combat. Throughout this war, the Colombian government has been able to maintain its system of competitive elections and relative control over the armed forces and actually broadened its democracy with a new constitution in 1991. How are we to explain this apparent contradiction? How has the civilian leadership' maintained its control over the state in the face of increasing social instability and violence? Why has the military been content with the power that it wields within this system? In order to answer these questions I examine military policy2 over the past 15 years, arguing that understanding Colombia's power structure and its relationship with the United States are central to understanding that policy. The distribution of power within a political system and the institutions that operate to regularize and maintain this distribution define the opportunities and constraints that guide, limit, and trigger individual or class action (Barrow, 1993: 14)

Economics · Human rights · Political science · Socioeconomics · Conflict, Peace, and Violence in Colombia · Global Peace and Security Dynamics · History and Politics in Latin America · Law