Different Resources, Different Conflicts? The Subnational Political Economy of Armed Conflict and Crime in Colombia
Publisher: Ediciones Uniandes
Author(s): Juan Prieto, Angelika Rettberg, Ralf Leiteritz, and Carlo Nasi
Date: 2020
Topics: Conflict Causes, Conflict Prevention, Extractive Resources, Governance
Countries: Colombia
This book explores some of the risks associated with sustainable peace in Colombia. The book intentionally steers away from the emphasis on the drug trade as the main resource fueling Colombian conflicts and violence. Instead, it focuses on the links between legal resources (such as bananas, coffee, coal, flowers, gold, ferronickel, emeralds, and oil) and the dynamics of conflict and crime in several regions of Colombia. The book thus contributes to a growing trend in the scholarly literature focusing on the subnational level of armed conflict behavior. It stresses how the social and economic contexts in which these resources are embedded can operate as deterrents or drivers of violence. Just as resources have been linked to outbreaks and transformations of violence, peacebuilding too needs to take their impacts, legacies, and potential seriously.