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Violence Entrepreneurs, Law and Authority in Colombia
Author(s) -
Grajales Jacobo
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
development and change
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.267
H-Index - 93
eISSN - 1467-7660
pISSN - 0012-155X
DOI - 10.1111/dech.12278
Subject(s) - citizenship , politics , demobilization , monopolization , state (computer science) , political subjectivity , political science , law , statutory law , power (physics) , argument (complex analysis) , de facto , decentralization , property rights , articulation (sociology) , sociology , political economy , law and economics , economics , monopoly , market economy , chemistry , physics , algorithm , quantum mechanics , computer science , biochemistry
Local power in Colombia has been profoundly restructured since the mid‐2000s, with the partial demobilization of paramilitary groups and the state's direct presence at the local level. This has led to the articulation of claims to new rights by internally displaced people, paving the way for new conditions of access to property and citizenship. However, paramilitary groups and their political and economic allies remain a de facto power in some areas. This contribution argues that a situation of rupture, seemingly characterized by a re‐monopolization of state violence, does not necessarily lead to the marginalization of criminal actors but to a reconfiguration of the links between statutory institutions and unofficial networks. This argument is based on an ethnographical exploration of claims regarding citizenship and property rights. The analysis of the strategies of rights claimants sheds light on the formation of both political authority and political subjectivity.