Post-conflict Colombia and the Global Circulation of Military Expertise

Description

By challenging more common analyses that point to the existence of a "post-conflict scenario" in Colombia and those that resist the narrative of "success", both of which operate within the logic of presence/absence of violence, this book proposes instead that we think of "post-conflict" in terms of the transformation of the rules on the use of violence. The analysis unfolds in two parts: the first explores the conditions of possibility of the Colombian “success story” and the web of criteria legitimizing the “success”, as well as the silencing mechanisms allowing for Colombia to circulate internationally as a formula to be replicated in other parts of the world; the second, focuses on the historicization of the mechanisms through which new rules are transmitted among the professionals of the public force, specifically the transformations of military schools and training centers in Colombia from times of “war” to “peace”. The author argues that key to this transformation is a unique discursive articulation around the “military professional” which slides from “citizen-soldier” to “expert-soldier”.   Preface Contents Abbreviations 1 Introduction 1.1 Analytical Tools and Plan of the Book References Part I The Colombian “Success Story” (or, What Is Allowed to Have Happened) 2 The Problem as a Condition for Success: The Construction of Colombia as a “Problematic Country” 2.1 The Problematization of Violence in Colombia 2.2 Fighting a Distant War: The U.S. And the Externalization of the “Drug Problem” 2.3 Conclusion References 3 The Success and Its Monsters: Disputing the Metrics, Dodging Criticism 3.1 Measuring Success: Assessing Colombia’s Counternarcotic Performance 3.2 The Silencing That Makes the Success Audible 3.3 Conclusion References Part II The Transnational Making of the Military Professional in Latin America 4 “Technical, not Political”: The Military Professional as the Citizen-Soldier 4.1 Organizing Violence: The Regulative Ideal of Modernization and the Civil-Military Divide 4.2 The Circuit of Military Savoirs and the Modernization of Post-independence Armies (or, Europe is Where Latin America is Supposed to be) 4.3 The Frictions and Fictions of the Civil-Military Boundary in the Colombian Army 4.4 Conclusion References 5 “All They Understand Is Force”: The Military Professional as the Expert-Soldier 5.1 The Re-articulation of the Circuit Around Counterinsurgency, an Old New Military Savoir 5.2 (The Imperative of) Winning Hearts, Minds, and Populations in the Never-Ending Colombian War 5.3 Successful Nonetheless: The Expert-Soldier and the Re-positioning of Colombia in the Global Circuit of Military Savoirs 5.4 Conclusion References 6 Conclusion References Bibliography Index