Reorganising violence: the Colombian “success story” and the limits of the postconflict discourse

Abstract

The starting point for this paper is the Colombian “success story”. That is, the claim that a transition has taken place from a problematic conflict situation to a successful post-conflict one. As the debates about the Colombian success story revolve around the presence or absence of violence, a proposal is made here to think of the postconflict period in terms of the transformation of the rules on the use of violence. The main aspects of the professionalisation programme accelerated and deepened via the Plan Colombia are analysed in an attempt to grasp the terms under which the Colombian military’s expertise is understood. Finally, the reorganisation of violence in the postconflict period is discussed by mapping out the main features of military training programmes in the context of peace.