Fernanda Cherini

POLS 2950

Annotated Bibliography

Browitt, Jeff. "Capital Punishment: The Fragmentation of Colombia and the Crisis of the Nation-

State." Third World Quarterly, vol. 22, no. 6, 2001, pp. 1063-1078.

Browitt does a historical analysis of Colombia’s episodes of violence. The author breaks

away from the simplistic view that the crime and violence was an immediate consequence of the

drug trafficking and the guerrilla insurgencies. Instead, he demonstrates that these episodes are

part of a long historical process, since the country’s independence. He finds that the Colombian

government and the elites have often resorted to the use of force to forward their own ideologies

and interests. This resulted in the consolidation of a view that violence is the best method to

solve conflicts. Thus, Browitt affirms that this contemporary crisis is a result of the historic

inability of the political elite to maintain order and national unity in Colombia. Browittt’s thesis

is in accordance to what I wish to convey in my essay. I will propose that certain elements

present in Colombia’s state formation and development were responsible for the country’s

history to be marked with violent conflicts. The first elements to be discussed will be the ones

presented by Browitt: lack of political and national unity, and resort to violence to solve

conflicts.

Carvalho, José Murilo de. “Political Elites and State Building: The Case of Nineteenth-Century

Brazil." Comparative Studies in Society and History, vol. 24, no. 3, 1982, pp. 378-399.

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 Carvalho, through a comparative analysis, identifies that the differences between the

Spanish and Portuguese colonies, and eventually between their transition into states, are mainly

due to the maintenance of political unity by the elite. The author proposes that to understand the

political transformations in the colonies and their differentiation, we must look at those who

made the political decisions, the elites. In Brazil, the Portuguese colony, the elite was

ideologically homogeneous and shared social ties even if they were from different regions.

Meanwhile, the Spanish colony, including Colombia, was divided into subkingdoms and the

different elites barely had any contact, allowing for ideological differences to arise. My essay

will, like Carvalho, use a comparative method to study the differences between Brazil’s and

Colombia’s state formation and development. Mainly, it will look for elements present in the

history of both countries that led to one being marked by violence while the other was relatively

more stable. Carvalho adds to Browitt’s article, as it also mentions the political unity of the elite

as a major factor for stabilization in Brazil, which was not present in Colombia.

Aviles, William. “Parastate Repression and Civilian Tolerance” in Global Capitalism,

Democracy, and Civil-Military Relations in Colombia. SUNY Press, 2007.

In the sixth chapter of his book, Aviles discusses the relationship between paramilitary

groups and the military in Colombia. By doing a historical analysis of the country, he finds that

Colombia has long relied on local armed civilian groups to maintain order in the regions where

the state had little presence. Furthermore, as the state continued to use irregular forces, narco-

traffickers and other economic elites consequently adopted their use for their own interests as

well. The article identifies these irregular forces as a major violence propagator, as paramilitary

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groups are not bound by any domestic or international law, which resulted in a great number of

civilian killings and overall violence abuse.

Aviles’ analysis of paramilitary groups, and its relation to the government and the military,

provides another element for the occurrence of violence in Colombia. It also adds to the

discussion of national unity, as Aviles demonstrates the different factions that started to form in

the country. All these “violent elements” presented in this article and the previous ones will be

used to compare Colombia and Brazil in their development.

Carvalho, José Murilo de. "The Unfinished Republic." The Americas, vol. 48, no. 2, 1991, pp.

139-157.

Carvalho analyzes the history of Brazil’s independence and further transformations with

emphasis on the role of political elites and the national army. His major findings are that after the

country’s independence there was a long political unity and order under the control of an

imperial elite for most of the 19th century. After dissatisfaction with such centralization of

power, the army took over the government and declared it a republic. Civil leaders of the

republic movement assumed the position of presidents, and more decades of stability followed in

the country. Carvalho shows that, despite some ideological disagreements between different

elites and the army, no major violent conflict was present in the country’s formation and

development. As my essay will contrast the development of both Brazil and Colombia regarding

the elements identified as related to violent uprisings, Carvalho brings the perspective of Brazil

to the analysis. It shows how a politically unified elite, led to a stable formation. Also, how when

Brazil finally declared itself as a republic, the process was much smoother than in Colombia. It

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will be argued that these differences are fundamental in explaining why Colombia witnessed so

much violence.

Wienand, Sandra and Stiven Tremaria. "Paramilitarism in a Post-Demobilization Context?

Insights from the Department of Antioquia in Colombia." European Review of Latin

American and Caribbean Studies, no. 103, 2017, pp. 25-50.

The authors, in a very recent article, study the current situation of paramilitarism in

Colombia after the demobilization process carried out by the state. They use qualitative data,

acquired by interviewing people living in the region of Antioquia, which was one of the centres

of urban and rural paramilitary activity. In addition to other research carried out in the area, the

authors find that “paramilitary successor groups” are still very present in Colombia and, although

not exactly as paramilitary groups, there are extensive similarities. My essay will conclude the

proposal of Colombia’s historical process of violence, mentioning that the root causes of

violence continue even after government’s attempts to demobilize the country. The author’s

research confirm that violence is still ongoing in Colombia, even if masked from their original

faces. Thus, as these root causes of violence are not properly addressed, it is very likely that

violence crises will continue to erupt in the country.

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 Introduction

Colombia’s contemporary violence crisis is marked by narcotraffickers, guerrilla

insurgencies, and paramilitary groups. However, instead of being a single occurrence, violent

crises are a historical consequence and process of the country’s formation and development,

which had “violent elements” that crystallized in Colombian society. Colombia’s and Brazil’s

state formation and development history will be compared and analyzed to identify these root

causes of violence. Brazil was chosen because its transition from a colony into a state is perhaps

one of the most different compared to other South American countries. For this reason, there is a

higher contrast between Brazil and Colombia that will aid into making clear which elements

present in Colombia led to its great violence.

Aspects of State Formation

As my essay proposes that the modern crisis in Colombia is, actually, a historical process,

it is necessary to identify which factors present at the state formation that could have led to this

crisis. Comparing Brazil and Colombia, the importance of political unity and order maintenance

by the elite becomes very clear. After independence, the Portuguese colony remained unified as a

stable monarchy, while the Spanish colony separated into various smaller states. Colombia’s

independence was a decade-long process marked by wars and violence, followed by more

conflict between different ideologies for the new republic.

By looking at those who made the political decisions, the elite, we can understand how

transformations happened in the countries. In the Portuguese colony, the elite was ideologically

homogeneous and shared social ties even if they were from different regions. Meanwhile, the

Spanish colony was divided into subkingdoms and the different elites barely had contact with

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each other, allowing for ideological differences. This happened mostly because Portugal did not

allow higher education institutions in its colonies, so all elites in Brazil would study together in

Coimbra University. They were taught bureaucratic and administrative ideas related to order

maintenance and of subordination to the crown, the Portuguese version of Enlightenment. On the

other hand, Spain allowed for universities in its colonies, so there was no political homogeneity

and ideas of centralized administration were not strong.

This lack of unity and order maintenance and a colonial mindset in Spanish colonies was

very important, as it allowed for various and distinct revolutionary ideologies to rise over the

colonies. The wars that followed Colombia’s independence, started the history of extremely

violent conflicts and revolutionary uprisings in the country.

The Influence of These Aspects in the Country’s History

Disagreement and violence between the elites continued during the consolidation process

of the Colombian republic, crystallizing itself in the society. Colombia has also long relied on

local armed civilian groups to maintain order in the regions where state had little presence. As

the government and army did not attempt to impose their presence in these regions, these two

bodies continued to have a great weakness. Also, as the state continued to use irregular forces,

narco-traffickers and other economic elites soon joined this trend. The essay will identify these

irregular forces as a major violence propagator, especially because paramilitary groups are not

bound by any domestic or international law, which resulted in a great number of civilian killings

and overall violence abuse. Despite having the longest uninterrupted democracy in Latin

American, political elites have often resorted to authoritarian and violent actions when they felt

their interests threatened. This gave rise to the period known as La Violencia between 1948 and

1958, when the Conservative and Liberal Parties’ disagreement resulted in about 300,000 deaths

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in a decade. This episode further legitimized violence as the best means to solve issues, leading

to guerrillas and narcotraffickers to adopt this view as well.

Brazil, meanwhile, having a stable consolidation as an independent state saw no major

violent conflict, despite having groups with different ideological positions. After the country’s

independence there was a long political unity and order under the control of an imperial elite for

most of the 19th century. After dissatisfaction with such centralization of power, the army took

over the government and declared the republic. Civil leaders of the republic movement assumed

the position of presidents, and more decades of stability followed in the country.

Final Remarks

As the essay reaches its conclusion that Colombia’s violent crisis is indeed a historical

process, it will consider the current Colombian society and whether the “violent elements”

continue to exist. The main elements identified were a lack of political and national unity by the

elites, a reliance on irregular forces by the government and its army, which led to the presence of

narcotraffickers, paramilitary groups, and guerrilla insurgencies. Around a decade ago, the

government started a demobilization process of the paramilitary groups. However, recent

research suggests that groups heavily influenced by the paramilitary still exist. As root causes of

violence are not properly addressed, it is very likely that violence crises will continue to erupt in

the country. Studying these root causes of violent conflicts is extremely important to understand

the impacts that they continue to have in Colombian society and it contributes to searching a

permanent solution to this problem.