Showing Teeth to the Dragons: State-building by Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez, 2002-2006 - Tapa dura

Normal0falsefalsefalseMicrosoftInternetExplorer4 "Since the early 1980s, Colombian presidents have engaged in on-and-off peace negotiations with the principal non-state actors involved in the country's seemingly endemic civil conflict. Kline's Showing Teeth to the Dragons is the third in a series of books that he has written to document these efforts. . . . Kline's book usefully traces the changes brought about by the Uribe administration, including the significant strengthening of the military and police forces, the sustained effort to expand the presence of the state throughout Colombian territory, and the bargaining process that produced the Justice and Peace Law, under the auspices of which the paramilitary forces largely (although not completely) demobilized."-- Bulletin of Latin American Research "[Showing Teeth to the Dragons] advances our understanding of the current situation in Colombia by offering a convincing theoretical framework and placing events in the current decade in the context of Colombia's historical development."--Philip Mauceri, co-editor of Politics in the Andes: Identity, Conflict, and Reform and Ethnic Conflict and International Relations

The civil war in Colombia has waxed and waned for sixty years, with shifting goals, programs, and tactics among the contending parties. Bursts of appalling violence are punctuated by uneasy truces, cease-fires, and attempts at reconciliation. Varieties of Marxism, the economics of narco-trafficking, peasant land hunger, poverty, and oppression mix together in a toxic stew that has claimed the uncounted lives of peasants, conscript soldiers, and those who simply got in the way. Kline argues that the first administration of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez marks a decisive break in this seemingly endless cycle. Not only were the levels of homicide and kidnapping dramatically reduced, but the state took the offensive against the insurgents, strengthening the armed forces which in turn demonstrated clear support for the president's policy. However, Kline believes that these changes, although dramatic, are not necessarily permanent, and discusses what challenges must be overcome for the permanent reduction of organized violence in this war-torn nation.