Demobilisation and Reintegration in Colombia: Building State and Citizenship(Routledge Studies in Latin American Development)

This book investigates demobilisation, disarmament and reintegration (DDR) in Colombia during the twentieth and twenty-first centuries. The six large peace processes and amnesties that took place in Colombia over this period were nation-led, providing an interesting case study for the wider DDR literature, which has historically focused on Africa and Asia. The continuous process of creating and demobilising illegal armed groups has been pivotal in building the Colombian state. Although the peace settlements and amnesties have brought renewed cycles of violence, they have also been key to the negotiation of democracy and citizenship rights for both ex-combatants and wider sectors of the population. Here the author analyses the role of DDR programmes in building state and citizenship. Comparing DDR during Alvaro Uribe’s presidency and the peace process with the FARC guerrilla under the presidency of Juan Manuel Santos, the book draws on extensive fieldwork conducted with local authorities, officers on the ground and ex-combatants themselves. It details the process of creating and implementing DDR policy and explores the difficulties, challenges and security dilemmas ex-combatants may face in integrating within a post-conflict society in social, economic and political dimensions. Bringing us right up to date with the implementation of the FARC's peace process and the challenges ahead in the reintegration of ex-combatants under a new president, this book will be of interest to scholars and researchers of politics and development in Colombia, and to those with an interest in peace-building, state-building and DDR in other countries and conflicts.

Table of Contents:
Introduction 1. Continuous Demobilisations: State-building Without Peace 2. DDR Design: Security or Development 3. Social Reintegration and DDR organisations: DDR programmes and Ex-combatant's NGOs 4. Economic Reintegration 5. Political Reintegration Conclusion

About the Author :
Francy Carranza-Franco is an associated researcher at the Observatory of Land Restitution and Property Rights, Colombia and has a PhD in Development Studies from SOAS, University of London, UK.

Review :
"At last the demobilisation of former combatants is conceptualised as a deeply social and political process, with consequences for state building as well as for peace building, while reflecting contemporary discourses around both. This volume is rooted in a rich, detailed, empirical analysis of the two most important 21st century demobilisation processes in Colombia, based on extensive fieldwork as well as other sources. It shows their huge implications for the future of peace in that country as well as the learning for other parts of the world." — Jenny Pearce, Research Professor, Latin America and Caribbean Centre, London School of Economics, UK "Based on a comparison of Demobilization, Disarmament and Reintegration that took place in Colombia in the last decade and a half, this book takes a highly innovative perspective, looking at ex-combatants not as a security hazard but as an asset to achieve sustainable peace. While doing so, it explores the difficulties, challenges and security dilemmas former combatants may face in their process of integrating within a post-conflict society. It concludes that ultimately, the process of ex-combatant reintegration consists of negotiating citizenship for both ex-combatants and marginalized communities. This highly readable book is full of valuable insights for scholars and practitioners alike, and more generally for anybody interested in the nuts and bolts of building sustainable peace in highly fractured and traumatized societies." — Francisco Gutiérrez Sanín, Professor, Institute of Political Studies and International Relations (IEPRI) at the the National University of Colombia, Director of the Observatory of Restitution and Land Property Rights