The political and social obstacles in the implementation of the Colombian peace agreement

Abstract

Previous research in the academic literature established the existence of a culture of violence in Colombia. This article focuses on the perpetuation of this culture of violence according to the framework of Waldmann (2007) after the signature of the Colombian Peace Agreement in 2016, and the influence of this phenomena on the persecution of human rights defenders. Colombia remains one of the most dangerous places for human rights defenders, as they are facing multifaceted risks due to the socially anchored culture of enmity and the stigmatisation of political contestation. Given the multifaceted challenges and actors related to violence in this country, the multilevel framework of Steenkamp (2005) will allow to understand the impact of state and nonstate actors. This research will be conducted according to a process-tracing study of Colombian media and policies relating to the strategies of both types of actors. This innovative method will enable to understand the effects of a culture of violence directly from the point of view of both victims and perpetrators. The purpose of this method is to promote the understanding and knowledge of the actors involved rather than international perception of the phenomena. The aim of the research is to understand the causal mechanisms at stake in a...