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I apply Tullock's transitional gains trap to the formalization of property titles in Latin America to understand public choice problems in mending institutions. In an area where land is owned by formal and informal institutions, policies to extend property rights will not be supported by voters holding legal title because it will devalue their property. To test this I use data from Colombia where a peace deal to end a 50-year conflict with Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia rebels was reached in 2016 and put to a public referendum. The deal included formalization of property titles across the nation as well as an end to the conflict. Using municipal-level data on voting and property ownership and controlling for conflict history, I find potential losses to formal property holders pushed median voter preferences toward dissension. A 1% increase in legally titled land increases dissenting vote share by 3% points. These results are relevant to institutional reforms anywhere with corrupted property rights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article highlights key events that affected indigenous peoples and communities in Colombia in 2018. Topics discussed include the murder and human rights violations against indigenous peoples, the peace negotiations between the national government and the Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia, and the indigenous movement's struggle to promote the values of its people.

Recent empirical evidence suggests an ambiguous relationship between internal conflicts, state capacity, and tax performance. In theory, internal conflict should create strong incentives for governments to develop the fiscal capacity necessary to defeat rivals. We argue that one reason that this does not occur is because internal conflict enables groups with de facto power to capture local fiscal and property rights institutions. We test this mechanism in Colombia using data on tax performance and property rights institutions at the municipal level. Municipalities affected by internal conflict have tax institutions consistent with the preferences of the parties dominating local violence. Those suffering more right-wing violence feature more land formalization and higher property tax revenues. Municipalities with substantial left-wing guerrilla violence collect less tax revenue and witness less land formalization. Our findings provide systematic evidence that internal armed conflict helps interest groups capture municipal institutions for their own private benefit, impeding state-building. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In the 1990s, Colombia decentralised politics and passed multicultural reforms as part of wider strategies to strengthen the state. Multiculturalism produced a complex institutional environment marked by jurisdictional overlap and legal plurality. The literature on Colombia's multiculturalism confirms that violence, indigenous rights abuses and the lack of enabling legislation on indigenous territorial entities limited ethno-political autonomy and instead enhanced the capacity of the state to transform indigenous identity and bureaucratise local decision-making practices. However, some indigenous authorities used the new institutions to take control of communal matters, changing local governments along the way. The better-known case of indigenous self-government is that of the Nasa people in Cauca, characterised by the capture of local institutions to advance ethnic rights. In my study of the Embera Chamí of Karmata Rúa (Antioquia) I argue that they represent an alternative approach centred on institutional embeddedness, or the repetition of ethnic autonomy rules by multiple layers of government. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Latin American Policy is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The article discusses geological, ecological and biodiversity studies of Colombia. It discusses how potential development of the land as well as conflict between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) could limit the work of scientists in the country.

In this study, we analyze the tactics deployed by Colombian women's rights NGOs, movements, and advocacy groups to challenge masculinism in the peace negotiations between the Colombian government and the former Colombian guerrilla Revolutionary Armed Forces (FARC) held in Havana.1 By drawing on the literature on women's participation in peace and transitional justice processes, the research assesses the presence of women in Colombia's peace talks, the way women's movements articulated their demands, the role of the sub-commission on gender, and the manner in which gender was introduced in the drafts of the peace agreement and in the document the parties to the negotiation signed in Cartagena in September 2016. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the indigenous peoples of Colombia, particularly focusing on internal conflict between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the role of indigenous peoples in peacebuilding, the Final Peace Accord, and political violence in indigenous territories.

The present article discusses the development of agricultural policies between the 1970s and the two periods of government of President Álvaro Uribe-Vélez. The agricultural policies are analyzed in their wider framework of relevant, general aspects of the economy in Colombia. It is argued that the challenges of agricultural policies are constant and repetitive since the beginning of the analyzed period: debate about production structure - large scale production versus small farming, production for industrial use and food production; levels of protection of national market versus integration into the international market; competitiveness versus lack of technological development and general infrastructure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the first 25 years of the Colombian Constitution of 1991. It marks the excessive optimism that the Constitution was received with by the people and the academy in general. However, over the years, although the Constitution changed the Colombian political reality significantly, it started to lose its charm. Among other reasons, (i) this Constitution could not satisfy the high expectations generated, (ii) the continuous reforms that the political class made to it, derailing the original model, and (iii) the way the political system managed to adapt to the new constitutional system so well that we could say "everything changed to stay the same". Moreover, we present the risk implied by a judicial democracy for the Colombian political system. Finally, this paper invites not falling into extreme points (nihilism, on the one side, ingenuity, on the other), so a critical skepticism is suggested regarding what is presented today as Constitution and its immediate future, in post-conflict times. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines the system of justice laid out in the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the guerilla movement Colombian Revolutionary Armed Forces, with emphasis on the Special Jurisdiction for Peace initiative. Other topics discussed include distinctive features of the negotiation process, the issue of sanctions, and criticisms against restorative justice system.

This article discusses the victims of political persecution and state-sponsored violence in Colombia during the 1970s and 1980s. The author comments on the clashes between the political left and right as well as between the government and political activists, dissidents, and insurgents. The modern-day implications of the dictatorship are also considered.

Scholars have shown how memory is an embodied and spatial practice that potentially generates more just possible futures, and that peace is a politicized and contextually specific process, but how does place-based memory performance actually contribute to social movements’ construction of peace? This article explores massacre commemoration pilgrimages and stones painted with victims’ names in the Peace Community of San José de Apartadó, a group of small-scale farmers living in the war-torn region of Urabá, Colombia. Based on 15 months of ethnographic research in Colombia from 2011 to 2014, including participant observation and 49 interviews, I explore the relationship between these spatially embodied practices and the community’s resistance to forced displacement and peace-building project. I argue that these forms of memorialization cultivate key elements for an autonomist ‘other politics’, including solidarity with allies; mobilizing bodies across space to defend life and land; and ongoing reflection, education and strategic planning that strengthen community cohesion and organization. Integrating scholarship on memory performance, peace geographies, and social movements, I illustrate how the San José de Apartadó Peace Community’s massacre commemorations and stones reject vindictive violence and instead build an alternative, transformative and emancipatory politics through internal and external solidarity. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

En este trabajo se ofrece evidencia de los efectos positivos de la descentralización fiscal en el crecimiento económico regional en Colombia desde la promulgación de la Constitución Política de 1991. La estrategia empírica incluyó la elección de un estimador adecuado para el enfoque de panel de datos, el estimador "promedio del grupo aumentado" (amg, por sus siglas en inglés), que permitió agregar factores determinantes no observados, sugeridos por la literatura, a los factores explicativos de largo plazo tradicionales. La estrategia se complementó con ejercicios que brindaron apoyo a los resultados de i) modelos de corte transversal para diferentes períodos y diversas variables de control, ii) una prueba de la hipótesis de complementariedad entre los bienes públicos suministrados por diferentes jurisdicciones (efectos indirectos), y iii) una evaluación de la convergencia incondicional en las diferencias de ingreso regionales. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research article is part of a broader project about the intellectual history of human rights in Colombia between 1974 and 1998. This piece is a preliminary interpretation of the relationship between the Colombian left wing and the ideas of human rights that emerged between 1974 and 1978. The questions that structure this essay are: bearing in mind the classical distrust in liberal legality, what type of relationship did the left build with the rising ideas of human rights? Why was it possible for some leftist groups to embrace the human rights language? The hypothesis is that the left understood the defense of human rights as a project of naming and shaming the bourgeois state for unleashing violence and repression. Showing systematic violence intended to raise consciousness of a “popular social class” that was being targeted by state violence. To defend this thesis I focus on the context surrounding the publication of one of the first reports that tried to make sense of human rights ideas: El libro negro de la represión, written by the Comité de Solidaridad con los Presos Políticos, CSPP. In sum, this article is an interpretation of this report from the perspective of the tension between bourgeois legality (embodied in human rights) and the revolutionary project of the left. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An essay is presented of democracy in Colombia. It mentions that the country is known for its stable political system with happier anticipations unlike other nations which suffer from dictatorships. An overview of its former President Alvaro Uribe and his efforts in curbing violence in the country through a hard-handed approach is also presented.

El artículo discurre sobre el Paro Cívico Nacional del 14 de septiembre de 1977 en Colombia. El autor comenta sobre el rol del presidente del país, Alfonso López Michelsen, en las huelgas generales y describe el estado económico y social en el país durante este periodo que contribuyeron al paro nacional.

An essay is presented on Colombian prisons, their political and cultural meanings and uses in modern society, and as a symbol of authoritarian liberalism. It explores the the transformation of correction facilities, inmate populations, and criminal policies in the country. It discusses the rapid rise of the imprisonment rates in the country, and their impact to the society.

The article discusses the socio-economic condition of indigenous peoples (IPs) in Colombia as of January 2016. Topics include Colombia's population geography, the legal framework of IPs, and the Colombian government's support for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. Also explored are Colombia's political history and the crimes against IPs.

El presente artículo tiene como objetivo principal mostrar cómo el nuevo constitucionalismo ha sido incorporado en el derecho colombiano mediante la Constitución Política de 1991. El Estado Social de Derecho, los derechos fundamentales, los Derechos Económicos, Sociales y Culturales, los mecanismos de participación ciudadana y distintas y eficaces acciones judiciales como la Acción de Tutela forman hoy parte activa del ejercicio jurídico colombiano. Sin embargo, distintos aspectos parecen hoy amenazar lo conquistado durante estos casi veinticinco años, a un insuficiente diseño institucional en algunos casos se une la necesidad urgente de incorporar a las normas vigentes lo que se acuerde en el proceso de paz con las FARC en la Habana, poniendo a prueba el paradigma constitucional actual, el cual se encuentra consolidado en algunos casos pero que permanece frágil en otros. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hernando de Soto’s best-selling bookThe Mystery of Capitalargues that economically disadvantaged countries lack institutional arrangements that can spur economic development and capital growth. This article questions de Soto’s institutional economist account. It draws on a 14-month ethnographic study performed at two rural field sites in Colombia and in the central government office responsible for promoting land programmes designed to improve the living conditions of rural communities. This study, which focuses on the daily practices of public officials and ruralcampesinos, suggests the importance of the title document, and in particular the public deed, for land ownership. It describes the process by which landownership is created by the issuance of the land title document and highlights some important elements and untended consequences that are often neglected in this process of making land a legal and economic asset. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Copyright of URVIO - Revista Latinoamericana de Seguridad Ciudadana is the property of FLACSO - Ecuador (Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales) and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This article analyzes the motion of no confidence in Colombia during the period 1992-2014. There are two central arguments: firstly, the motion of no confidence is a mechanism for control and accountability which has allowed the opposition and some members of the coalition government to challenge some of the ministers' decisions and actions, which in turn have been disclosed to the media and to the general public. Secondly, although the motion is an important control mechanism, none of the initiatives have been successful due to its regulation and the fact that all six governments from the period studied have been supported by majorities in Congress, which have defended ministers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article discusses how the electoral volatility has evolve in the Colombian Senate from 1986 to 2010, concentrating in the vote share of that volatility that is related to the emergence and success of new parties and to the weakening of traditional parties. We offer an interpretation of the results according to the international literature that is working new parties. The source for our data is the Registraduría Nacional del Estado Civil de Colombia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Revista Entramado is the property of Universidad Libre Seccional Cali and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Governments across the developing world in general, and Latin America in particular, tend to have difficulty in raising taxes among elites. Beginning in 2002, however, the Colombian government adopted a series of wealth taxes among the wealthiest taxpayers. Revenue from the tax was earmarked for security expenditures and represented about 1 % of GDP. Drawing on elite interviews, surveys, government documents, and media sources, this article studies the factors behind the adoption of the tax. It finds that three main factors make the elite tax possible, namely the combination of fiscal and security crises, cohesion among business and government elites, and improving perceptions of the government's provision of public safety. The findings should inform efforts in the developing world, where low levels of fiscal extraction, deteriorating security conditions, and mounting public safety expenditures are common. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An interview with Colombian-born U.S.-based author Elvira Sánchez-Blake is presented. It focuses on her novel "Espiral de silencios," which tells the story of a Colombian woman guerrilla fighter. Topics addressed include her journalistic work for the Colombian government, the Palace of Justice siege by the guerrilla movement Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19) in 1985, and her work as a human rights activist.