Paramilitarism and Neoliberalism: Violent Systems of Capital Accumulation in Colombia and Beyond

The people of Colombia have, for the last fifty years, been subject to a specific form of violence: paramilitarism. An embodiment of the dark underbelly of global capitalist accumulation, this form of pervasive violence expresses the exacerbation of social inequalities and class formation under capitalism. In Paramilitarism and Neoliberalism, Jasmin Hristov theorises this extreme expression in light of forced displacement, labour repression, subjugation of social movements, decentralisation of violence, drug trafficking and the emergence of a variety of para-institutional armed actors across Latin America. The activities of paramilitary groups in the postdemobilisation era, their involvement in human rights violations, and their multilevel support networks inside major state institutions are documented, with a particular emphasis on violent dispossession and illegal land appropriation that has benefited agroindustries and mining enterprises. Hristov engages in a Marxist political economy approach, combined with a global sociological perspective, allowing for an expansive and deep-reaching understanding of paramilitarism as a phenomenon with many faces, ultimately illustrating how it is increasingly becoming the coercive counterpart of global capital.

Table of Contents:
Acknowledgements List of Tables List of Figures List of Acronyms Map of Colombia Preface/Author’s Note 1. Introduction: The Spectre of Paramilitarism 2. Foundations for Theorizing Paramilitarism 3. From Colonialism to Neoliberalism: A History of Dispossession 4. Eight Years after the Demobilisation of the AUC: The Predatory State-Capital Alliance of Domination (2006–14) 5. Paramilitarism, Neoliberalism and Globalisation: Towards a New Analytical Framework 6. Conclusion References Index

About the Author :
Jasmin Hristov is Assistant Professor, Department of History and Sociology, The University of British Columbia, Okanagan. She is the author of Blood and Capital: The Paramilitarisation of Colombia (Ohio, 2009) and Paramilitarism and Neoliberalism: Violent Systems of Capital Accumulation (Pluto, 2017). She has had her work featured in the Journal of Peacebuilding and Development, the Journal of Peasant Studies, Social Justice, Latin American Perspectives, and Labour, Capital and Society.

Review :
Very few books are able to penetrate the labyrinth of political development in Colombia and uncover the roots of the violence that has dominated the history of Colombia. This book does so with surprising agility, solid research and clear language. A must read for all those concerned and interested in political developments in Latin America. -- Henry Veltmeyer, Universidad Autonoma de Zacatecas Jasmin Hristov exposes in this vitally important study the links between paramilitary force, state repression and plunder by local and transnational elites in Colombia and elsewhere. This is the first study to provide a theoretical understanding of paramilitary violence as an instrument of neo-liberal globalization. It shows how expanding poverty and inequalities are not inconvenient byproducts of development but the inevitable consequences of a social order based on the systematic and violent expropriation of peasants and the pillage of natural resources maintained through state-sponsored death squads and social cleansing. Hristov writes with great clarity, passion, and commitment. As she makes clear, we ignore the Colombian case at great peril. The work shows how the Colombian model of "private" terror in the service of global capitalism is being exported to the rest of Latin America and the World. Colombia thus holds up a mirror to the face of a ruthless global capitalism in deep crisis and headed towards authoritarian and neo-fascist forms of transnational social control. Paramilitarism and Neoliberalism will be of great interest to scholars of Latin America, international affairs, political economy, and globalization. Beyond Colombia, and beyond the academy, this book is a wake-up call; a must read for anyone concerned with human rights and social justice in the world today. -- William I. Robinson, Professor of Sociology, University of California at Santa Barbara, Author of Global Capitalism and the Crisis of Humanity "This book is an urgent and elegant indictment of the paramilitary-capital-state nexus in contemporary Colombia. Each node in the network of violence at the root of capital accumulation is unveiled with precision and a mastery of the facts." -- Jeffery R. Webber, Queen Mary University of London, author of Red October: Left-Indigenous Struggles in Modern Bolivia