Citation

Gray VJ. Lat. Am. Polit. Soc. 2008; 50(3): 63-91.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2008, John Wiley and Sons)

DOI

10.1111/j.1548-2456.2008.00022.x

PMID

unavailable

Abstract

The article synthesizes contributions from the recent comparative research on civil war and the case-specific literature on Colombia to argue that too often, commentators on this conflict overlook some of its key dimensions. A comprehensive analysis shows that no fewer than six factors are fueling violent conflict in Colombia: economic forces, state weakness, landscape, U.S. policies, long-duration and spin-off violence, and malicious opportunism by non-combatants. The first three are the ones that matter most. The case made here is that when analysts disregard the range and interrelat-edness of the factors involved, the result is a distortion of reality and a tendency to support policies that will not enhance the prospects for peace.