A critique of “resource-based” theories of colombia’s civil war

In recent years, several Colombian scholars have studied this country’s civil conflict through the lenses of economic reasoning and state-of-the-art statistical testing. Their analyses place most of the explanatory burden of the conflict on the existence of lootable resources and organized crime, no...

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Autores:: Medina, Luis Fernando

Tipo de recurso:: Article of journal

Fecha de publicación:: 2008

Institución:: Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Repositorio:: Universidad Nacional de Colombia

Idioma:: spa

Description
Summary:	In recent years, several Colombian scholars have studied this country’s civil conflict through the lenses of economic reasoning and state-of-the-art statistical testing. Their analyses place most of the explanatory burden of the conflict on the existence of lootable resources and organized crime, not on any specific socio-economic factor of Colombia’s reality (“objective causes”). This paper criticizes their claims while accepting their criteria and methods. In particular, it contends that their formal approach to civil conflicts is flawed, a flaw that carries over to the type of empirical tests conducted and that there are several gaps in the reasoning from statistical results to the overall interpretation of the conflict.

A critique of “resource-based” theories of colombia’s civil war

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