Briefing Paper No. 8. Challenging the 'Criminal Rebel' thesis.

• From: Department for International Development
• Published: 1 January 2003

• Country: Colombia
• Document Type: Briefing
• Theme: Governance and Conflict

Abstract

Based on Working Paper No. 27: Francisco Gutiérrez Sanín, 'Criminal Rebels? A discussion of war and criminality from the Colombian Experience.' It is intended to provide a summary of the principal findings, and an indication of the implications these may have for debates over policy.

The Colombian conflict seems to be a typical instance of a 'greedy war', and exhibits very strong links between criminal activities and rebel organisations. Against this, Guitérrez suggests that not even in Colombia does Collier's 'criminal rebels' thesis hold, with the Colombian case showing that criminality and war mix in ways that escape a strictly economic interpretation of war. Analysing the experience of the two leading Colombian guerrilla armies (FARC and ELN), he demonstrates the need for a different framework for the understanding of wars waged by non- (or not strictly) materialistic soldiers.

Citation

Briefing Paper No. 8. Challenging the ‘Criminal Rebel’ thesis, 2003, London, UK; Crisis States Research Centre, 2 pp.

Links

Briefing Paper No. 8. Challenging the ‘Criminal Rebel’ thesis.

Published 1 January 2003