Colombia's FARC Insurgency May Be Coming to an End. But Can the Peace Hold?

Credit: Colombian army, via facebook

The FARC insurgency in Colombia has been raging for fifty years. And now, after a long peace process, it may soon be coming to a formal end. But even if a peace deal is signed, sustaining the peace will be incredibly challenging and may hinge on whether or not there is a meaningful improvement in the lives of people in rural Colombia. 

That is the argument of my guest James Bargent, a freelance journalist in Colombia who has a piece in World Politics Review discussing the prospect of a peace dividend in poor, rural outposts of Colombia over which FARC has historically exerted a great deal of influence. We have a very interesting conversation about the history of this insurgency, the peace process, the challenge of coca eradication and the complex relationship between impoverished farmers, FARC guerrillas and the government.

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