Accession Number:

ADA326498

Title:

State Strength and Guerrilla Power: The Equilibrium Between the Colombian Government and the Guerrilla Groups.

Descriptive Note:

Master's thesis,

Corporate Author:

NAVAL POSTGRADUATE SCHOOL MONTEREY CA

Personal Author(s):

• Mestizo Reyes, Ruben D.

Report Date:

1996-12-01

Pagination or Media Count:

136.0

Abstract:

This study addresses the question of whether there is an equilibrium between the Colombian government and the guerrilla groups. This subject is addressed for the purpose of gaining an understanding and finding answers to Colombias violent political conflict. The study argues that there is an equilibrium between the government and the guerrilla groups. The author uses three variables 1 military balance, 2 peasant support for the guerrillas, and 3 the weakness of the state, to discuss the equilibrium and its effect in this conflict. In conclusion, the author maintains that the equilibrium between the actors in the conflict is not structural, but is a circumstance of the effects of both the narcotics trafficking and the failure of the judicial system. If this balance is to change, action must be taken on two fronts, narcotics trafficking and the judicial system.

Descriptors:

• *GOVERNMENT(FOREIGN)
• *POLITICAL REVOLUTION
• *COLOMBIA
• *GUERRILLA WARFARE
• INTERNATIONAL POLITICS
• MILITARY FORCES(FOREIGN)
• THESES
• MILITARY CAPABILITIES
• CONFLICT
• CIVIL AFFAIRS
• BALANCE OF POWER
• DEMOCRACY
• MILITARY GOVERNMENT
• DRUG INTERDICTION
• DRUG SMUGGLING

Subject Categories:

• Government and Political Science
• Unconventional Warfare

Distribution Statement:

APPROVED FOR PUBLIC RELEASE