Jan Boesten

Biographic Data

ID3662017
NAMEJan Boesten
GIVEN NAMESJan
FAMILY NAMEBoesten
SIGNATUREBOESTEN J
AFFILIATIONSFreie Universität Berlin
ORCID0000-0003-2117-1004
VERIFIEDYes
TOTAL WORKS6
TOTAL CITATIONS3
WORKS AS AUTHOR6
WORKS AS EDITOR0
FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR2014
LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR2026
H-INDEX1

  • Total Peace and the Evolution of Conflict in Colombia’s Periphery

    Open AccessJan Boesten, Lerber Dimas et al.ARTICLELatin American Perspectives2026

    Gustavo Petro's “Total Peace” was undoubtedly ambitious in scope and was intended to produce more stable and permanently peaceful conditions, particularly in historically affected peripheral regions. Nevertheless, the number of armed non-state actors (ANSAs) has increased, as has their territorial reach and military capacity. Meanwhile, humanitarian crises have intensified in several regions, highlighting the government's limited ability to conta…

  • Turbulent equilibria

    Open AccessJan Boesten, Lerber Dimas Vásquez et al.ARTICLEThird World Quarterly2026

    This paper explores the persistence of the Colombian Puzzle, democracy with violence, in Colombia’s Caribbean Coast by analysing the coexistence of distinct modes of oligarchic rule, drawing on Winters’ (Citation2011) theory of oligarchic modes of rule. The core argument is that this region suffers from a turbulent equilibrium produced by the interaction of civil and warring oligarchies. These two systems of domination operate autonomously but ar…

  • Democracy and Crime

    Open AccessJan Boesten, Derica LambrechtsARTICLEJournal of Asian and African…2026References: 14

    This paper explores the intersection of democracy and organized crime in Colombia and South Africa, two countries that, despite their geographical distance, share significant socio-political similarities. Both nations fully democratized during the Third Wave and have since experienced high levels of criminal violence. In Colombia, the rise of the illicit narcotics economy since the late 1970s has deeply influenced its political landscape, while S…

  • From Vicious to Virtuous Cycles

    Open AccessDáire Mcgill, Jan Boesten et al.ARTICLEBulletin of Latin American Research2024Cited by: 2References: 16

    Since the 2016 Havana Peace Accord (HPA), for many Colombians security has hardly improved. This article argues that this is largely due to socially rooted marginalisation that constrains citizen participation and contributes to entrenched insecurity in the country, especially its border regions. We show how post-HPA community-level responses to insecurity, including constructive engagement with the state, can enhance security and kick-start proc…

  • Of Strategies, Ideas, and Deliberation

    Open AccessJan BoestenARTICLELatin American Research Review2022

    This essay reviews the following works:Constitutional Courts and Deliberative Democracy. By Conrado Hübner Mendes. New York: Oxford University Press, 2015. Pp. viii + 272. 110.00 cloth. ISBN: 9781107079786

  • The Generalization of Particularized Trust. Paramilitarism and Structures of Trust in Colombia

    Open AccessJan BoestenARTICLEColombia Internacional2014Cited by: 1

    This paper examines the relation between the politics of state formation and the accompanying appearance of social traps based on the example of Colombia. It shows that egregious exceptions to the rule of law, exemplified by the parapolitica and “false positives” scandals, are themselves a result of “social traps,” which are generated by the generalization of particularized trust. The generalization of particularized trust entails the incorporati…