Abstract

TREJOS, Luis Fernando  and  GUZMAN CANTILLO, Jolie. Armed clientelism in the Colombian Caribbean through the co-opted Reconfiguration of the State. The case of the North Block of the United Self-Defense of Colombia. Justicia [online]. 2018, n.34, pp.555-578. ISSN 0124-7441.  https://doi.org/10.17081/just.23.34.3408.

The Colombian Caribbean has been, for several decades, the scene of a strong presence of paramilitary groups within the framework of the dynamics of the armed conflict. The Caribbean region was, without a doubt, a configured scenario for the AUC (Self-Defense Units of Colombia) action and development of this group as illegal social actor.The AUCachieved, through illegal or illegal but illegitimate practices, the local regime´s alteration and had real influence on the formulation, modification, interpretation and implementation of public policies. Thus, this paper argues that the Northern Bloc of the United Self-Defense Groups of Colombia in the period 2000-2006, deployed its actions through the Co-opted State Reconfiguration, pursuing economic but also political benefits. The above-mentioned within a broader operation framework: armed clientelism, since public life was privatized, appropriating common goods through force or the real threat of its use. The present analysis is structured across these two concepts, rebuilding the paramilitary control in the Caribbean region in the indicated period and describing how has been the criminal capture of the public administration.

Keywords : Armed clientelism; Co-opted State Reconfiguration; paramilitary groups; Colombian Caribbean region.

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