Ámbitos de conflicto y repertorios de violencia en el Suroccidente Colombiano

Abstract

This paper attempts to compare the use of the violence repertories and the strategic interaction between the armed actors in the South west of Colombia between 1997 and 2009. The violence repertoires are coercive demonstrations of the armed actors; those actions have the purpose to gain sovereignty. Nevertheless, the armed actors employ the violence strategically because, on the one hand, they evaluate the frequency and the diversity that they have to use in each territory in order to defeat the enemy's resistance. On the other, the armed actors take into account the place where they are: if the territory has a high confluence of military agent (center) or not (periphery). The conclusion of this study is that at the end of the twenty century, the confrontation forces converged in certain territories which were central for the war dynamic. However, this encounter did not last since the guerrilla was defeated in those places and they had to withdraw to the periphery. The analysis is supported under the perspective of contention politics and the central place theory. The author implements a small–N comparative analysis that implemented geographical matrixes in order to take in account the temporal and spatial variation.