The Experience of Defeat
The Colombian Left and the Cold War that Never Ended
In: Historical MaterialismSearch for other papers by Forrest Hylton in
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Abstract
This paper argues that throughout the Cold War, the Colombian Left focused on building local power in the countryside, and abandoned the burgeoning urban working class, much of it informal, unwaged and unorganised, to the Right. Yet at every turn, landlords linked to local and regional political machines and military and police officials blocked or reversed reforms designed to modernise the countryside, as government-subsidised agro-industrial development replaced smallholding. Then, in successive conjunctures, landlords and their allies, including cocaine exporters from whom they were increasingly inseparable after 1985, augmented their political power through dynamic counterinsurgent paramilitary movements based in provincial cities and towns. This made democracy impossible, led to a new feudalism characterised by parcellised sovereignties, and upheld, into the twenty-first century, the semi-authoritarian parliamentary system that has ruled Colombia since the 1880s.
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2
See Ortiz Sarmiento 2007.
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4
See Grandin 2010; Joseph 2010.
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6
See Bergquist 1986a.
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9
Bergquist 1986a, pp. 282–5.
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10
See Phelan 1978; Loy 1981.
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11
See Helg 2003; Abello Vives 2005.
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12
See Helg 2003; Garrido 2005; Lasso 2007.
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14
See Wade 1994; Appelbaum 2003.
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15
See Safford and Palacios 2001.
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17
See Chernick and Jiménez 1993.
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18
See Appelbaum 2003.
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19
See LeGrand 1986.
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20
See Bergquist 1986b.
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21
Bergquist 1986a, pp. 276–9.
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23
See Medina 1980.
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24
See Braun 1985.
-
25
See Green 2003.
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26
See Medina 1992.
-
27
See Leal Buitrago and Dávila 1990.
-
29
See Joseph 2008; Spenser 2008.
-
31
See Sánchez 1983.
-
32
See Sánchez 2006.
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34
See Medina 1980.
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35
See Medina 1986.
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36
See Delgado 2009a.
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37
See Ayala Diago 2006.
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38
See Medina and Sánchez (eds.) 2003, pp. 181–209.
-
39
See Archila 2003.
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40
See Pizarro Leongómez 1991; Karl 2009.
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41
See Medina 1984; Delgado 2009a; Archila 2009a.
-
42
See Delgado 2009a.
-
43
See Delgado 2009b.
-
44
Palacios 1997, p. 300.
-
45
See Bushnell 1993.
-
47
Bushnell 1993, p. 286; Palacios 1997, p. 300.
-
48
See Medina Gallego 1990.
-
49
See Téllez Ardila 1995.
-
50
See Dudley 2001; Rojas Puyo 2003.
-
51
See Tate 2007.
-
53
See Laurent 2005; Wills Obregón 2007.
-
55
See Richani 2002.
-
59
See Camacho Guizado 2009.
-
60
See Hylton 2010a.
-
61
See Corporación Nuevo Arco Iris 2012.
-
63
Archila 2003, p. 303.
-
64
See Romero 2003.
-
65
See Bergquist 1986a.
-
66
See Wood 2003; Chávez 2010.
-
67
See Fernandes 2010; Ciccariello-Maher 2013.
-
68
See Sánchez 2006.
-
69
See Roberts 1998.
-
70
See Winn 2010.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
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| Abstract Views | 653 | 81 | 12 |
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The Experience of Defeat
The Colombian Left and the Cold War that Never Ended
In: Historical MaterialismSearch for other papers by Forrest Hylton in
Current site
Google Scholar
PubMed
Abstract
This paper argues that throughout the Cold War, the Colombian Left focused on building local power in the countryside, and abandoned the burgeoning urban working class, much of it informal, unwaged and unorganised, to the Right. Yet at every turn, landlords linked to local and regional political machines and military and police officials blocked or reversed reforms designed to modernise the countryside, as government-subsidised agro-industrial development replaced smallholding. Then, in successive conjunctures, landlords and their allies, including cocaine exporters from whom they were increasingly inseparable after 1985, augmented their political power through dynamic counterinsurgent paramilitary movements based in provincial cities and towns. This made democracy impossible, led to a new feudalism characterised by parcellised sovereignties, and upheld, into the twenty-first century, the semi-authoritarian parliamentary system that has ruled Colombia since the 1880s.
| All Time | Past 365 days | Past 30 Days | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Abstract Views | 653 | 81 | 12 |
| Full Text Views | 220 | 11 | 0 |
| PDF Views & Downloads | 117 | 24 | 0 |
