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The Internal Dynamics of a Non-State Conflict Actor

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The Internal Dynamics of a Non-State Conflict Actor The Internal Dynamics of a Non-State Conflict Actor: The Organisational Resources and Internal Legitimacy of the FARC-EP in Colombia by Guri Waalen Borch Master’s Program in Peace and Conflict Transformation The Internal Dynamics of a Non-State Conflict Actor: The Organisational Resources and Internal Legitimacy of the FARC-EP in Colombia by Guri Waalen Borch Master’s Program in Peace and Conflict Transformation 2 ABSTRACT Being the largest guerrilla group in Colombia and entitled the richest guerrilla group of the world, the FARC-EP constitutes the most important non-state conflict actor of the Colombian internal conflict. In recent years it has been recognised in conflict research that non-state actors must be taken seriously if we want to understand today’s internal conflicts. This is the starting point for my analysis of the FARC-EP. Whereas much contemporary research focuses on the economic agendas of conflict actors, the attention in this thesis is on how different organisational resources together reflect a social order of violence beyond the state that embraces both political, economic and symbolic elements. It asks the question of how organisational resources relate to and define internal legitimacy. Drawing upon Christopher Clapham and his notion of organisational effectiveness, indicators such as a clearly defined political project, effective structures and educated leaders will be employed as guiding lines in the empirical study of the FARC-EP. The grounds of the internal legitimacy of the FARC-EP will be established by combining these indicators with insight on the role of self-legitimation of rebels and Max Weber’s typology of domination. The most effective self-legitimating arguments of an organisation may indeed reflect its most important organisational resources. By way of looking into the FARC-EP’s self- legitimation, I find that one of its most important organisational resources is its historical memory. The FARC-EP’s sense of collective destiny is tied to stories of past suffering, in which the leader of the organisation holds a special position. As regards economic resources, there has been created a “revolutionary mysticism” of the way that economic resources are delegated, as well as a tight control over their management. Hence, the FARC-EP has managed to keep the economic resources a strength to the organisation, rather than a source of serious splits. This thesis shows that in addition to internal structures, political project and level of education and coherence, effective self-legitimating arguments should be given special attention in order to understand the grounds of internal legitimacy of a specific non-state conflict actor. Key words : FARC-EP, guerrilla group, rebel organisation, war economy, social order of violence, self-legitimation, internal legitimacy. 3 THANKS TO Kirsti Stuvøy, who has supervised me with genuine interest and given very constructive feedback. Ana and Gustavo, who have helped me enormously searching numerous bookshops in Bogotá, acquiring the sources I needed. My Colombian host family, who made my cultural exchange year in Colombia possible some eight years ago. Javier Fabra Mata, who has shown great interest in my thesis, listened and given me good advice on the way. 4 ABBREVIATIONS CDF Civil Defence Forces CGSB Coordinadora Guerrillera Simón Bolívar ( Simon Bolivar Guerrilla Movement Coordinating Body) DANE Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística (National Administrative Department of Estadistics) ELN Ejército de Liberación Nacional (National Liberation Army) EMC Estado Mayor Central- (Central General Staff) EPL Ejército Popular de Liberación (Popular Liberation Army) FARC-EP Fuerzas Armadas Revolucionarias de Colombia- Ejército del Pueblo (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia- People’s Army) HRW Human Rights Watch INGO International Non- governmental Organisation M-19 Movimiento 19 de abril (19th of April Movement) MPLA Movimento Popular de Libertação Popular (People’s Movement for the Liberation of Angola) LASO Latin American Security Operation NACLA North American Congress on Latin America PCC Partido Comunista Colombiano (Colombian Communist Party) PCCC Partido Comunista Colombiano Clandestino (Colombian Clandestine Communist Party) UCDP Uppsala Conflict Data Program UNIR Unión Izquierdista Revolucionaria (Leftist Revolutionary Union) UNITA União Nacional para a Independência Total de Angola (National Union for the Total Independence of Angola) UP Unión Patriótica (Patriotic Union) 5 CONTENTS INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................7 Research Question....................................................................................................................8 The Relevance to Peace Studies...............................................................................................8 CHAPTER I: THEORETICAL FOUNDATIONS .............................................................9 Research Context......................................................................................................................9 Theoretical Perspective ..........................................................................................................13 Organisational Resources.......................................................................................................13 The Self-Justifying Activities of Rulers, Staff and Subjects: Legitimation ...........................16 Legitimacy in a Social System:..............................................................................................19 Max Weber and the Concept of Legitimate Order .................................................................19 Domination and Legitimacy: The Three Pure Types of Authority ........................................20 Discussion: The Weberian Understanding of Legitimacy......................................................22 Outline of Thesis....................................................................................................................23 CHAPTER II: HISTORICAL BACKGROUND ..............................................................25 The Internal Conflict in Colombia 1946-2006 .......................................................................25 The Origins of the FARC.......................................................................................................31 CHAPTER III: ORGANISATIONAL RESOURCES AND EFFECTIVENESS ..........35 Educated Leaders and a Clearly Defined Political Project.....................................................35 Development of the Group and Dispensability of the Leader................................................38 Ability to Stay United: Coherence and Level of Discipline...................................................43 CHAPTER IV: THE FARC’S WAR ECONOMY AS SOCIAL INTERACTION ........47 The FARC’s System of Economic Reproduction ..................................................................47 Economic Activities as Social Interaction..............................................................................50 The Coca Economy and the Cocalero Campesinos ...............................................................52 CHAPTER V: LEGITIMATION AND LEGITIMACY ..................................................56 Self-legitimating Narratives ...................................................................................................56 Narratives about the Enemy ...................................................................................................60 Secrecy within the Legitimation of a Farian Identity.............................................................62 Contradictions Between the Narratives and Reality...............................................................64 The FARC’s Basis of Legitimacy ..........................................................................................67 CONCLUSION .....................................................................................................................71 REFERENCE LIST .............................................................................................................74 APPENDICES ......................................................................................................................82 6 INTRODUCTION Since Colombia’s war for independence (1810-1824), the country has gone through numerous civil wars. The Colombian conflict of today, which in recent years also has turned into a war 1, is protracted, multifaceted and difficult to resolve. It is of great importance for the conflict’s possible resolution not to rely on easy conclusions labelling conflict actors without a deeper knowledge of their dynamics, which are not static but go through transformations. My work is hence elaborated in the context of the latter acknowledgment, attempting at a better understanding of the conflict actor constituting Colombia’s largest guerrilla group, the Marxist-Leninist FARC-EP 2. In today’s world, most conflicts are intrastate and therefore also involve non-state actors, who in some way or another need to obtain resources to subsist 3. Much attention has accordingly been paid in recent years to the economic approach to conflict. Some theorists claim that war may play strategic roles when it comes to economic functions (Keen, 1996, 2000) and authority (Reno, 2000), establishing “alternative systems of profit and power” (Keen, 1996: 14). Others (Collier, 2000; Collier and Hoeffler, 2001) focus
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