Local Institutions and Armed Group Presence in Colombia

This paper investigates the causal impact of non-state armed groups on local institutions during the armed conflict in Colombia, and tests competing theoretical mechanisms that may shape such effect. Our identification strategy is based on the construction of contiguous-pairs of rural communities th...

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Autores:
Gáfaro, Margarita
Ibáñez, Ana María
Justino, Patricia
Tipo de recurso:
Work document
Fecha de publicación:
2014
Institución:
Universidad de los Andes
Repositorio:
Séneca: repositorio Uniandes
Idioma:
spa
OAI Identifier:
oai:repositorio.uniandes.edu.co:1992/41022
Acceso en línea:
http://hdl.handle.net/1992/41022
Palabra clave:
Armed conflict
Colombia
Institutions
Violence
P37, D74, H56
Rights
openAccess
License
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/
Description
Summary:This paper investigates the causal impact of non-state armed groups on local institutions during the armed conflict in Colombia, and tests competing theoretical mechanisms that may shape such effect. Our identification strategy is based on the construction of contiguous-pairs of rural communities that share common socio-economic characteristics but differ in armed group presence. The results show that the presence of armed groups is associated with increases in overall participation in local organizations, with a particularly strong effect on political organizations. This strengthening of local institutions during wartime appears to be driven by coercion exercised by armed groups that capture local organizations for strategic war purposes, rather than a reflection of a vibrant civil society