Inside Colombia: Drugs, Democracy and War [Paperback]

Grace Livingstone (Author), Jenny Pearce (Foreword)

Book Description

Publication Date: June 16, 2004

"A great resource for students and scholars. Chock-full of up-to-date, reliable information, this book has practically everything you need to know about contemporary Colombia all in one package." --Herbert Braun, author of Our Guerrillas, Our Sidewalks: A Journey into the Violence of Colombia The South American nation of Colombia has seen more than forty years of unrest, conflict, and civil war. It is a country in which social violence and warfare are intricately intertwined. Colombia is also notorious for its drug trade, being one of the leading producers of cocaine in the world, and for its central role as a staging ground for the U.S. "war on drugs." Since 9/11 the Bush administration has sought to draw political links between the Colombian drug trade, guerrilla organizations, and terrorism. Inside Colombia offers a valuable introduction and quick reference guide to this complex nation. With chapters devoted to history, human rights issues, the economy, drugs, the controversial antidrug intervention known as Plan Colombia, and relations with the United States, the book offers an easily accessible and comprehensive overview. Readers will learn about the major players in the conflicts, significant political figures, how Colombia's economy has fared in the twentieth century, how the country's geography influences its politics and economy, and how U.S. intervention shapes Colombia's political scene. Grace Livingstone is a journalist who regularly contributes to a range of publications on Latin American current affairs and has reported for the BBC World Service. She is currently based in Venezuela where she is a correspondent for The Guardian. Jenny Pearce is the coauthor of Civil Society and Development: A Critical Exploration.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Grace Livingstone is a journalist who regularly contributes to a range of publications on Latin American current affairs. She is currently based in Venezuela and writing as a correspondent for The Guardian. Jenny Pearce is the co-author of Civil Society and Development: A Critical Exploration.

Product Details

• Paperback: 286 pages
• Publisher: Rutgers University Press (June 16, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0813534437
• ISBN-13: 978-0813534435
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.5 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 13.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 2.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,346,801 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

20 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A balanced and probing journalistic essay, September 10, 2004

By 

Bert Ruiz "Author" (Pleasantville, NY USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside Colombia: Drugs, Democracy and War (Paperback)

Grace Livingstone has authored a balanced and probing journalistic essay of the Republic of Colombia. "Inside Colombia; Drugs, Deomocracy and War," is a powerful presentation of human rights, history, the economy, the war on drugs and Colombian - American relations. Moreover, the text includes dynamic fundamental statistics that adds an important dimension to understanding the complexities of Colombia's democracy. An added bonus is a straightforward and compelling foreword by Jenny Pearce...a highly regarded author/journalist.

To this end, Livingstone does not hesitate to inform the reader in the opening pages of this text that Colombia has the highest homicide rate in the Americas. "More trade unionists, journalists and mayors are killed here than anywhere else...Most notoriously, it has the highest kidnapping rate in the world... More than fifty thousand people have died in political violence since 1980 and the death rate is rising," according to the author. Livingstone goes on to explain that the armed forces and illegal paramilitaries are waging a brutal counterinsurgency war in the countryside. She adds that the paramilitaries terrorize civilians in order to undercut support for leftwing guerrillas, who have been fighting the State since the 1960's. To her credit, the author does not fail to objectively point out the recent human rights abuses by guerrillas.

However, this book does more than document the human rights abuses inside the borders of Colombia. Livingstone also provides a tier one study of the Colombian economy. The examination of clientelism, income inequality and the coffee & oil sectors are outstanding. A piece of the puzzle in understanding the economy is in the foreword where Jenny Pearce states, "Colombia's political & economic elite have failed to govern in the interest of all Colombians. They have not constructed a state capable of building a nation which in turn would provide the cultural context for the political activation of ciizens and democratization of the state."

Livingstone goes one step further and adds that, "the harmony between politicians, technocrats, businessmen, newspaper editors, is due, by and large, to the fact that they all come from the same class, were born in the same parts of the country, went to the same universities and moved in the same circles or belonged to the same families." Obviously, the glaring absence of significant social and land reforms in Colombia is a direct result of the fact that the middle and lower class in Colombia has a tiny voice in promoting change. Nevertheless, the keystone to understanding why Colombia is what it is today is clearly articulated by Livingstone in the chapter on Colombian history, "In Colombia, it would be accurate to say there were a variety of regional elites to whom local power was more important than the abstract concept of a nation." In completing this book one will likely conclude that Colombia will never find peace on earth until leaders in Bogota create authentic political inclusion and a fair administration of justice for all Colombians. Recommended.

Bert Ruiz

0 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Know the Author, December 14, 2010

By 

Dan "Dan" (Not Telling, World) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Inside Colombia: Drugs, Democracy, and War (Hardcover)

Before reading this book, know that it is a VERY subjective analysis of a complicated problem. The author has a multitude of pre-dispositions that are immediately apparent within the first pages. Take her opinionated views with a grain of salt.

2 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Dated analysis simplistic labeling, November 11, 2006

By 

Luis F. De Angulo - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Inside Colombia: Drugs, Democracy and War (Paperback)

A journalistic piece of work that discovers that Colombia suffers violence and a war due to the unrelented demand for drugs. This is not saying very much on an extremely complex and multifaceted problem. In the same fashion as many recent works the core of the book is the narrative based on very dated material; the latest data refers to 2001 for a country that evolves by the day. Nothing bad on writing history but then it should be presented as such not as current events.