"Paramilitarism and Neoliberalism: Violent Systems of Capital Accumulation in Colombia..." by Jasmin Hristov

This is the first study to provide a theoretical understanding of paramilitary violence as an instrument of neo-liberal globalization. The book theorises 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.

This book exposes in this vitally important study the links between paramilitary force, state repression and plunder by local and transnational elites in Colombia and elsewhere.

The activities of paramilitary groups in the post-demobilisation era, their involvement in human rights violations, and their multi-level 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.
Author 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.

Contents
List of Tables
List of Figures
List of Acronyms
Map of Colombia
Acknowledgements
Preface
1 Introduction: The Spectre of Paramilitarism
Who Exactly is the Paramilitary?
The Significance of Paramilitary Violence Beyond Colombia
Why is it Necessary to Theorize Paramilitarism?
Organization of the Book
2 Foundations for Theorizing Paramilitarism
Capital and Labour
State Power and Class Domination: The Illusion of the Political-Economic Divide
Capitalism and Violence
Capitalist Violence Outside the State Apparatus
The Myriad of Today’s Parainstitutional Violent Actors
Conceptualizations of the Phenomenon of Paramilitarism in Colombia
Critique of the Existing Conceptualizations of Colombian Paramilitarism
3 From Colonialism to Neoliberalism: A History of Dispossession
Planting the Seeds of Poverty and Inequality: Conquest and Colonialism (1500–1810)
Wars of Independence and the New Republic (1811–1902)
Integration into the World Capitalist Economy and the Challenge from Below (1903–1989)
Neoliberalism and Militarization: The Peace of the Rich is a War Against the Poor (1990–2013)
Paramilitarism as the Enabler of Economic Domination and Political Rule (1990–2006)
Social Movements: From Wealth Redistribution to Human Rights to the Revival of Land Struggles
4 Eight Years After the Demobilization of the AUC: The Predatory State-Capital Alliance of Domination (2006–2014)
The Invention of BACRIM and the Invisibilization of Paramilitarism
Paramilitary Groups in a ‘Post-Paramilitary’ Era: Dispossession and Repression
Healing the Wounds: Prospects for Justice and Reparations for the Victims of Paramilitary Violence
5 Paramilitarism, Neoliberalism and Globalization: Towards a New Analytical Framework
First Principle: Paramilitarism as a Multidimensional Entity
Second Principle: Paramilitarism as a Structural Social Formation
Third Principle: The Paramilitary and the State – a Dialectical Relationship
Paramilitarism and the Transnationalization of the Colombian State
6 Conclusion
Notes
References
Index