Citation

Braun NC. Civ. Wars 2009; 11(4): 455.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2009, Informa - Taylor and Francis Group)

DOI

10.1080/13698240903403832

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

This article analyses the repatriation of a group of internally displaced persons which took place in 2003 in north-western Colombia. Starting with the question of why, in spite of all reservations, the displaced families were taken back to a war zone, the author demonstrates how, on the one hand, the repatriation was part of a power game between the protagonists in the armed conflict and how, on the other, the return of the families was a way of resisting the violent social orders that the paramilitary, the army and the guerrillas had established in the region. The repatriation was the starting point for the creation of a social order based on non-violence. Thus it was the scene of a struggle about social orders or, to put it in another way, about the principles on which Colombian society should be based - a struggle fought out with violent and non-violent means.