By Kyong Mazzaro   Colombia has faced one of the lengthiest conflicts involving one of the largest left-wing rebel groups in modern history, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC). Claiming more than seven million victims over five decades of violence, the conflict has affected and displaced vulnerable populations, involving a multitude of actors from governments to guerilla and crime syndicates. Even though land disputes between elites and peasant farmers are at the origin of the conflict, many scholars explain the endurance of violence in the Colombian and other similar conflicts as the direct result of incentive structures that allow parties to benefit from the conflict. Namely, drug trafficking and other illicit activities provide resources for rebel groups to remain active. However, although drug trafficking is a well known driver of conflict, recent research has found that addressing the conditions of deep inequality that are at the origin of conflicts can be an effective and often neglected strategy to reduce violence. In a study on the drivers of the Colombian conflict, Albertus and Kaplan (2012) examined the history of land reforms and guerrilla activity in Colombia from 1988 to 2000. They found that there is a clear link between land ownership and rebellion, and that reforms that target local disputes or large peasant grievances have been found to effectively reduce violence. Similarly, Flores (2013) analyzed land reform struggles and collective violence episodes from the 1920s to the creation of the FARC in 1964, and found a clear link between deep inequalities, struggles over land reform, and violent patterns of collective action. The researchers show that rather than drug trafficking alone, one of the main drivers of persistent violence in Colombia is the deep inequality manifested in the history of struggles around land ownership.
  Cases of prolonged conflicts and guerilla insurgencies that have a history of deep inequalities and failed land reforms are common in Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Although drug trafficking and crime are important drivers and byproducts of these conflicts, there is clear need to better understand the mechanisms by which deep unaddressed inequalities perpetuate violence and have the potential to foster peace.
  Albertus, M. & Kaplan, O. (2013). Land Reform as a Counterinsurgency Policy Evidence from Colombia. Journal of Conflict Resolution, 57(2), 198-231.
  Flores, T. E. (2014). Vertical Inequality, Land Reform, and Insurgency in Colombia. Peace Economics, Peace Science and Public Policy, 20(1), 5-31.
Image source: Flickr User Chris Ford

Categories: Blog, Injustice and Conflict, International Conflict, Intra / Inter-group Conflict, Policy and Conflict

Published March 17, 2015