Organized Violence after Civil War
The Geography of Recruitment in Latin America

This book analyzes primary source evidence from militia groups, demonstrating the driving forces behind the post-war trajectory of armed groups.

Sarah Zukerman Daly (Author)

9781107127586, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 5 February 2016

344 pages, 16 b/w illus. 18 maps 27 tables
23.5 x 15.7 x 2.2 cm, 0.67 kg

'A remarkable aspect of this book is the rigorous research design and thorough fieldwork that includes hundreds of interviews with former members and commanders of the paramilitary groups, national and regional institutions, civil society, and victims of those groups, among other sources. … Every scholar or policy-maker interested in the evolution of armed groups in contemporary armed conflicts should be aware of this book.' Mabel González Bustelo, Global Policy

Nearly half of all countries emerging from civil conflict relapse into war within a few years of signing a peace agreement. The postwar trajectories of armed groups vary from organizational cohesion to dissolution, demilitarization to remilitarization. In Organized Violence after Civil War, Daly analyzes evidence from thirty-seven militia groups in Colombia, demonstrating that the primary driving force behind these changes is the variation in recruitment patterns within, and between, the warring groups. She documents the transition from war to peace through interviews with militia commanders, combatants and victims. Using rich ex-combatant survey data and geo-coded information on violence over fifty years of war, Daly explains the dynamics inside armed organizations and the strategic interactions among them. She also shows how the theory may be used beyond Colombia, both within the region of Latin America and across the rest of the world.

1. Introduction - a farewell to arms?
2. Theory of the postwar trajectories of armed organizations
3. Violence and peace in Colombia
4. Geography of recruitment and postwar organizational capacity
5. Strategic interactions between armed groups and remilitarization
6. The path to demilitarization: configuration of local militias in Antioquia
7. Remilitarization, strong and weak: local and non-local militias in Catatumbo and Urabá/Córdoba
8. Beyond Colombia: transitions from war to peace in comparative perspective
9. Conclusion.

Subject Areas: Irregular or guerrilla forces & warfare [JWDG], Armed conflict [JPWS], Comparative politics [JPB], Violence in society [JFFE]