Paramilitarism and neoliberalism: violent systems of capital accumulation in colombia and beyond: violent systems of capital accumulation in colombia and beyond

The people of Colombia have, for the last fifty years, been subject to a specific form of violence: paramilitarism. An embodiment of the dark underbelly of global capitalist accumulation, this form of pervasive violence expresses the exacerbation of social inequalities and class formation under capitalism. In Paramilitarism and Neoliberalism, Jasmin Hristov theorises this extreme expression in light of forced displacement, labour repression, subjugation of social movements, decentralisation of violence, drug trafficking and the emergence of a variety of para-institutional armed actors across Latin America. The activities of paramilitary groups in the postdemobilisation era, their involvement in human rights violations, and their multilevel support networks inside major state institutions are documented, with a particular emphasis on violent dispossession and illegal land appropriation that has benefited agroindustries and mining enterprises. Hristov engages in a Marxist political economy approach, combined with a global sociological perspective, allowing for an expansive and deep-reaching understanding of paramilitarism as a phenomenon with many faces, ultimately illustrating how it is increasingly becoming the coercive counterpart of global capital. Cover 1 Contents 8 List of Tables 10 List of Figures 11 List of Acronyms 12 Acknowledgements 18 Preface 19 1. Introduction: The Spectre of Paramilitarism 22 2. Foundations for Theorizing Paramilitarism 41 3. From Colonialism to Neoliberalism: A History of Dispossession 82 4. Eight Years After the Demobilization of the AUC: The Predatory State-Capital Alliance of Domination (2006-2014) 133 5. Paramiliarism, Neoliberalism and Globalization: Towards a New Analytical Framework 159 6. Conclusion 187 Notes 192 References 205 Index 226 Examines Colombia's pervasive violence over the last 50 years in Colombia and argues that paramilitarism, as an embodiment of global capitalist accumulation, has resulted in forced displacements, labor repression, subjugation of social movements, decentralization of violence, drug trafficking, and the emergence of para-institutional armed forces across Latin America. Why extreme violence is a necessity for capitalist accumulation to occur in Colombia and beyond