Dirk Kruijt

Kees Koonings

Does the withdrawal of armies from direct rule in most countries herald an end to their role as actors in domestic politics? Has political intervention by the military been superseded? This comparative examination of the politicized armed forces looks at * the consequences of military rule for nation building and economic development * the effects of the passing of the Cold War and the rise of globalization on the political role of the military * the role of political armies in the consolidation of civil politics and democratic governance * the lessons for policy makers in global governance and post-conflict reconstruction The contributors build on successive theories about the role of the military in politics and look to the future. The most threatening scenario may be a proliferation of armed actors and the rise of privatized forces of law and order.

The Military and Nation Building in the Age of Democracy

Political Armies

As cities sprawl across Latin America, absorbing more and more of its people, crime and violence have become inescapable. From the paramilitary invasion of Medell¡n in Colombia, the booming wealth of crack dealers in Managua, Nicaragua and police corruption in Mexico City, to the glimmers of hope in Lima, this book provides a dynamic analysis of urban insecurity. Based on new empirical evidence, interviews with local people and historical contextualization, the authors attempts to shed light on the fault-lines which have appeared in Latin American society. Neoliberal economic policy, it is argued, has intensified the gulf between elites, insulated in gated estates monitored by private security firms, and the poor, who are increasingly mistrustful of state-sponsored attempts to impose order on their slums. Rather than the current trend towards government withdrawal, the situation can only be improved by co-operation between communities and police to build new networks of trust. In the end, violence and insecurity are inseparable from social justice and democracy.

Social Exclusion, Urban Violence and Contested Spaces in Latin America

Fractured Cities

Lammert de Jong

In this book, the islands' connections with American and European metropolitan centers are considered lifelines, which must be strengthened. The constitutional arrangement is defined as extended statehood, a form of government that is meant to supplement the island government. Circumstances have changed and require a format of analysis that goes beyond the old landscape of 'colonies' and 'independent states.' The objective of this book is to promote a new look at extended statehood in the Caribbean while raising a number of questions relating to the operation of the different extended statehood systems across the region.

Paradoxes of Quasi Colonialism, Local Autonomy, and Extended Statehood in the USA, French, Dutch, and British Caribbean

Extended Statehood in the Caribbean

Dennis Rodgers

Ethnography as Risky Business addresses how to carry out ethnographic fieldwork on socio-political conflict and collective violence with a focus on the global south. Drawing on real-life case studies, it reflects on key methodological problems and the ethical and personal challenges faced when conducting and reporting on "risky" ethnography.

Field Research in Violent and Sensitive Contexts

Ethnography as Risky Business

A lo largo de la segunda mitad del siglo XX se libraron tres guerras simultáneas en El Salvador, Guatemala y Nicaragua. Fueron guerras largas y brutales, que dividieron a la opinión pública internacional entre el apoyo de EEUU a regímenes dictatoriales y el apadrinamiento de la Unión Soviética a las organizaciones guerrilleras. Este fascinante estudio de la “generación guerrillera” se basa en exhaustivas entrevistas, tanto con ex comandantes guerrilleros como con ex dirigentes políticos y jefes militares de esa época. Dirk Kruijt analiza los sueños y los logros, los éxitos y los fracasos, las utopías y distopías de toda una generación de centroamericanos y sus líderes. Guerrillas abarca desde los orígenes del movimiento guerrillero en la pobreza, la opresión y la exclusión, sus tácticas de combate, el fallido experimento del gobierno sandinista en Nicaragua, hasta la posterior “normalización” de los movimientos guerrilleros dentro de sociedades democráticas. La historia aquí narrada es vital para comprender a los movimientos sociales contemporáneos de América Latina. Dirk Kruijt es profesor de estudios sobre desarrollo en la facultad de ciencias sociales de la Universidad de Utrecht. Durante muchos años ha sido diplomático para el desarrollo y asesor político en América Central.

Guerra y paz en Centroamérica

Guerrillas

Three parallel wars were fought in the latter half of the twentieth century in El Salvador, Guatemala and Nicaragua. These wars were long and brutal, dividing international opinion sharply between US support for dictatorial regimes and the USSR’s sponsorship of guerrilla fighters. This fascinating study of the ‘guerrilla generation’ is based on in-depth interviews with both guerrilla comandantes and political and military leaders of the time. Dirk Kruijt analyses the dreams and achievements, the successes and failures, the utopias and dystopias of an entire Central American generation and its leaders. Guerrillas ranges widely, from the guerrilla movement’s origins in poverty, oppression and exclusion; its tactics in warfare; the ill-fated experiment with Sandinista government in Nicaragua; to the subsequent ‘normalization’ of guerrilla movements within democratic societies. The story told here is vital for understanding contemporary social movements in Latin America.

Dirk Kruijt

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