Showing Teeth to the Dragons: State-building by Colombian President mode Alvaro

Product Name: Showing Teeth to the Dragons: State-building by Colombian President mode Alvaro
EAN：9780817355593 UPC：9780817355593 ISBN：9780817355593 MPN：N/A mode Format：Paperback, 320 pages
The civil war in Colombia has waxed and waned for sixty years, with shifting goals, programs, and tactics among the contending parties. Bursts of appalling violence are punctuated by uneasy truces, cease-fires, and attempts at reconciliation. Varieties of Marxism, the economics of narco-trafficking, peasant land hunger, poverty, and oppression mix together in a toxic stew that has claimed the uncounted lives of peasants, conscript soldiers, and those who simply got in the way. Kline argues that the first administration of Colombian President Alvaro Uribe Velez marks a decisive break in this seemingly endless cycle. Not only were the levels of homicide and kidnapping dramatically reduced, but the state took the offensive against the insurgents, strengthening the armed forces which in turn demonstrated clear support for the presidents policy. However, Kline believes that these changes, although dramatic, are not necessarily permanent, and discusses what challenges must be overcome for the permanent reduction of organized violence in this war-torn nation..