Multinational Corporations, Rentier Capitalism, and the War System in Colombia

This article focuses on the role of multinational corporations in the Colombian conflict, particularly how they contributed to the escalation of land conflicts and to the violent transformation of the rural economy into one based on rentier capital. It also explores how these companies helped in fomenting and financing the war system, an element that could partly explain the protracted persistence of the Colombian conflict.     

The Stories Nations Tell,in Three Voices

Abstract

An examination of the role of history in the South China Sea is dangerous ground. Contemporary discussions about sovereignty and jurisdictions in the Sea have become so politicized as to obscure historical insights. This essay considers the role of history in the South China Sea through the lens of three recent works on maritime Asia. While the Robert Kaplan’s 2014 book offers an abstract account of rising states and ancient rivalries, the two other works by Bill Hayton and Bernard Cole offer more compelling explanations of the role of human agency in shaping the region’s claims. The comparison of these works yields a commentary on the South China Sea disputes, and on the methodologies employed by those who study this consequential sub-region and its maritime past.     

Drugs, Violence, and Development in Colombia: A Department-Level Analysis

Observers say that drug production fuels violence in Colombia, but does coca production explain different levels of violence? This article examines the relationship between coca production and guerrilla violence by reviewing national‐level data over time and studying Colombia by department, exploring the interactions among guerrilla violence, exports, development, and displacement. It uses historical analysis, cartographic visualization, and analysis of the trends in four high coca‐producing and four violent Colombian departments, along with a department‐level fixed effects model. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, the department‐level analysis suggests that coca production is not the driving force of contemporary Colombian guerrilla violence. Instead, economic factors and coca eradication emerge as prominent explanatory factors.     

The Positioning of Economic Rationality in Colombia

This article explains how economic rationality in Colombia came to play a growing role in the management of economic policy and social analysis, as a case study of a process that is observed in various parts of the world. In addition to the rise of a technocratic elite, this involved the positioning of economic rationality in managing strategic state institutions and the creation of knowledge about society. We explain the mechanisms that enabled economists to occupy these positions, displacing other social scientists and sociologists.     

Water,Sheikhs and Dam Builders: Stories of People and Water in the Middle East

Edward Said's idea is that intellectuals should be ‘amateurs’, in the French sense of the term, in order to be involved with knowledge production out of their passion and keen interest, rather than as a duty-bound job. This should generate excitement and create dedication in their explorations and activism in and out of their professional fields. Following this idea, I argue in this paper how Egypt's radical feminist, Nawal el Saadawi, a physician by profession but humanist by passion, became a key dissident figure inside her country and abroad. I discuss her writings and activism that contribute towards advancing social justice for all, especially repressed women under patriarchy. Further, I argue that Saadawi's writings take part in a Gramscian hegemonic war against power in order to assert non-coercive knowledge in opposition to power's discursive formation. In doing so, Saadawi is guided by her moral principles. The combination of these two aspects not only makes her a Saidian ‘amateur’ but also a voice of resistance to be reckoned with.     

Unsettling Narratives: Overcoming Prejudices in the Hostel Stories Project

ABSTRACT

In 1988, Jock Collins boldly suggested that Australia’s earlier migrant arrivals, the subject of prejudice themselves, often become the perpetrators of prejudice. Indeed, as we collect oral histories from post-war migrants, we are regularly confronted with angry statements such as “asylum seekers are just let in and given everything”. What lies at the heart of this phenomenon? Clearly, prejudice and stereotyping exists in all societies but seems to be particularly evident in societies where an ongoing flow of migrants continues to change and alter the ethnic and racial mix. This article reflects upon research conducted in the Hostel Stories project, where we frequently were confronted with stereotyped, prejudicial, and even racist comments about other migrants and refugees during interviews with migrants. These statements made us ask whether Collins was correct in his observations. Drawing on the literature from various disciplines, we consider various influences on migrant attitudes towards other migrants. We propose that it is critical to continue to progress beyond the conventional topics explored in migration studies and ask difficult questions in order to contribute to a growing global discussion on ethnicity and intergroup relations, especially in relation to prejudice and racism.     

Effects of Institutional Reforms on Women's Representation in Colombia, 1960–2014

Starting in the 1990s, reforms aimed at addressing the underrepresentation of women have been implemented in Colombia. However, research on the consequences of these reforms has been inconclusive. This article analyzes the influence of institutional variables on the proportion of nominated and elected women in Colombia between 1962 and 2014, at both the national and local levels of government, in three different institutional environments. Results confirm the influence of institutional change, indicating that decentralizing reforms and the introduction of the gender quota have had a positive impact on the proportion of women's candidacies and elections, but that the adoption of the open list negatively affected the percentage of elected women.     

Aquí en el Ghetto: Hip‐hop in Colombia,Cuba, and Mexico

Hip‐hop music has become an important tool worldwide for poor, marginalized youth to reflect on their lived experiences. This article traces the genre's production from its spontaneous origins in the urban ghettos of New York to its commoditization for global consumption and its evolution in three different Latin American settings: Colombia, Cuba, and Mexico. The article explores how hip‐hop has been appropriated in each country and has been used to express the performers’ reflections on social, political, and economic problems. It also looks at the interplay between the homogenizing tendencies of global hip‐hop and its local reception.     

US Intervention in Colombia: The Role of Transnational Relations

In July 2000, US President, Bill Clinton, signed into law the aid package popularly known as ‘Plan Colombia’. Foreign policy analysts examining the ‘US drug war’ have generally focused upon the perceived national security interests of the US state and/or the intermestic nature of domestic politics, or the economic interests of an imperial US state in explaining US drug policy. I posit that the development, initiation and implementation of Plan Colombia cannot solely be understood through these various nation‐state paradigms, as this process was aided by, and facilitated through, an incipient transnational state. The emergence and consolidation into power of a neoliberal state within Colombia, the role of transnational lobbying by US and Colombian policy‐makers, as well as the influence of transnational corporations all played instrumental roles in the initiation, development and implementation of Plan Colombia.     

Ethnic Rights Under Threat: The Black Peasant Movement Against Armed Groups' Pressure in the Chocó, Colombia

During the past decade Colombia has been experiencing the paradox of, on the one hand, enjoying one of the most advanced constitutional frameworks for the empowerment of citizenship rights in general and ethnic rights in particular, and on the other, suffering from the drawn-out effects of endemic violence and armed conflict. In this paper, the manifestation of this paradox in a specific context, that of the black peasants' land rights movement in the Chocó region, is explored. Under the aegis of the 1991 Constitution, organisations of black peasants have been making headway in filing for and receiving substantial collective land titles on the basis of a discourse of black ethnic rights. At the same time, and not coincidentally, various armed actors such as the FARC guerrillas and paramilitary forces have made violent inroads into this region. The violence has led to internal displacement, social uprooting, and the disruption of the organisational efforts of the black peasantry. This has put the process of ethnic construction and mobilisation under severe strain. However, black peasants' organisation have been trying to use the land entitlements as a tool to mount a counterstrategy against the violence inflicted by the armed groups.