The conceptual puzzle of violent non-state actors in Latin America: a critique of the convergence hypothesis

ABSTRACT

Current research often emphasizes the typological convergence of violent non-state actors, which according to this literature tend to mix the characteristics of actors conventionally understood as criminals, insurgents, terrorists, or warlords. In this article, we examine the adequacy of such proposals to explain the evolution of violent actors in Latin America. Through a comparative study of the long-term development of two important Latin American violent actors, the Colombian FARC and the Mexican Sinaloa Cartel, we arrive at the conclusion that convergence phenomena occur with much less frequency and intensity than suggested, and when they do occur, they are caused by mechanisms typically not considered in the literature. This may indicate a significant limitation regarding the empirical reach of the convergence hypothesis as well as a need for further conceptual clarification.

KEYWORDS:

• Latin America
• convergence
• organized crime
• insurgency
• terrorism
• drug trafficking

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes

1. Mares, “Intra-Latin American Relations,” 357.

2. UNODC, Global Study on Homicide, 12.

3. Rivera, “Sources of Social Violence,” 85.

4. Picarelli, “Malevolent International Relations,” 10.

5. Loader and Percy, “Criminology/IR divide,” 213.

6. Jahn, “Political Relevance of International Relations,” 68.

7. Grillo, Gangster Warlords, 166.

8. Sullivan and Bunker, “Rethinking Insurgency,” 745.

9. Makarenko, “The Crime-Terror Continuum,” 131.

10. Cornell, “Narcotics and Conflict,” 758.

11. Felbab-Brown, “Crime-War Battlefields,” 147.

12. Makarenko, “The Crime-Terror Continuum,” 139–40.

13. For example Shelley and Melzer, “Terrorism, Crime, and Transformation,” 47; or Sanderson, “Transnational Terror and Organized Crime,” 54.

14. Dishman, “Terrorism, Crime, and Transformation,” 56.

15. Felbab-Brown, Shooting Up, 6.

16. Sanderson, “Transnational Terror and Organized Crime,” 53.

17. Englund and Stohl, “Violent Political Movements,” 27; Saab and Taylor, “Criminality and Armed Groups,” 463. In both cases, analysts find that the transition to criminal forms of organization was more commonly a case of individuals stranded from a previous conflict taking up a different form of economic sustenance, rather than a case of organizational evolution in the sense of convergence.

18. Hutchinson and O’Malley, “Links between Terrorism and Criminality,” 1105.

19. Buzan and Lawson, “Rethinking Benchmark Dates.”

20. Bunker and Sullivan, “Cartel Evolution Revisited,” 30.

21. Campbell and Hansen, “Narco-Violence in Mexico,” 160.

22. Osorio, “Contagion of Drug Violence,” 1403.

23. Sadler, “Historical Dynamics of Smuggling,” 162–6.

24. Osorno, El Cártel de Sinaloa, 57–63.

25. Fernández Velázquez, “Drogas en Sinaloa.”

26. Grayson, Mexico: Narco-Violence, 23–25.

27. Osorno, El Cártel de Sinaloa, 96–105.

28. Pacheco Celaya, “Narcofearance,” 1026.

29. Shirk and Wallman, “Understanding Mexico’s Drug Violence,” 1349.

30. Grayson, Mexico: Narco-Violence, 27–30.

31. Mercille, “Violent Narco-Cartels,” 1641–2.

32. Grayson, Mexico: Narco-Violence, 33–5.

33. McEvoy, “The Martyrdom and Avenging”.

34. Grillo, El Narco, 65–9.

35. Campbell, Drug War Zone, 22–23.

36. Ribando et al., Latin America and the Caribbean, 10.

37. Grayson, Mexico: Narco-Violence, 56–7.

38. Duncan, “Drug Trafficking and Political Power,” 23–25.

39. Shirk and Wallman, “Understanding Mexico’s Drug Violence,” 1353.

40. Miró, “Organized Crime and Terrorist Activity,” 5.

41. O’Neil, “Real War in Mexico,” 65.

42. Rios, “Controlled Organized Crime,” 1447–8.

43. Beittel, “Mexico: Organized Crime,” 17–21.

44. Arias, Criminal Enterprises and Governance, 19.

45. Maldonado, “Drogas, violencia y militarización,” 33–6.

46. Shelley, Dirty Entanglements, 10.

47. Krause, “Hybrid Violence,” 43–4.

48. Pansters, “Drug trafficking,” 332.

49. Williams, “The Terrorism Debate,” 260.

50. Salt, “Blurred Lines,” 186.

51. Phillips, “Terrorist Tactics”.

52. Beith, “A broken Mexico,” 799–800.

53. Beittel, “Mexico: Organized Crime,” 13–23.

54. Dudley, “Drug Trafficking Organizations,” 65.

55. See note 53 above.

56. Beck, Regidor, and Iber, “Year One of AMLO’s Mexico,” 115–6.

57. Felbab-Brown, Mexico’s Out-Of-Control Criminal Market.

58. Ungar, “Networks of Criminality,” 302.

59. Jones, “The Strategic Implications,” 21.

60. See note 57 above.

61. Lomnitz, “The Ethos and Telos.”

62. Olmos, Batallas de Michoacán, 304.

63. Jones and Sullivan, “Huachicoleros,” 13.

64. Alape, La Paz y la Violencia; and Bushnell, Una Nación a Pesar de sí Misma.

65. Fajardo, “Estudio sobre los orígenes del conflicto armado”.

66. Vega, “Injerencia de Estados Unidos”.

67. Comisión Histórica del Conflicto y sus Víctimas, Contribución al entendimiento del Conflicto.

68. Viana, “FARC: Aquellos Bandidos Comunistas”.

69. Bushell, Una Nación a Pesar de sí Misma; and Alape, La Paz y la Violencia.

70. Ospina, “Insights from Colombia´s Long War”.

71. Ibid.

72. Sanchez & Bojayá, Guerra sin límites.

73. CNN, “At least 32 killed in Colombia”.

74. International Crisis Group, War and Drugs in Colombia.

75. Ibid.

76. Ospina, “Colombia e Israel”.

77. Spencer, Colombia: Camino a la Recuperacion.

78. Clarke, “China’s War on Terror”.

79. Bernal, “Colombia e Israel”.

80. Guzman, Muñoz, The Hyper Cartel.

81. Ehrenfeld, Narco Terrorism.

82. McDermott, “20 años después de Pablo”.

83. Daly, “Organizational Legacies of Violence”.

84. Cornell, “Narcotics and Conflict,” 757.

85. Saab and Taylor, “Criminality and Armed Groups,” 471.

86. Felbab-Brown, Shooting Up.

87. Makarenko, “The Crime-Terror Continuum,” 139.

88. Saab and Taylor, “Criminality and Armed Groups,” 465.

89. Palma, “Transnational networks of insurgency and crime”.

90. Palma, Commercial Insurgencies in the Networked Era.

91. Angelo, “Colombian Peace Process”.

92. McDermott, “EX-FARC Mafia”.

93. Álvarez and Pardo, “Trayectorias y Dinámicas Territoriales”.

94. Salas, Wolff and Camelo, “Towards violent peace?”.

95. Monsalve “Disidencia del Frente Primero”.

96. Monsalve, “Disidencias y Deserciones”.

97. Alvarez, Llorente, Cajiao, and Garzon, “Crimen Organizado y Saboteadores”.

98. Benzing, “Whom You Don’t Know,” 100.

99. Neumann, “Grievance to Greed,” 251.

100. Björnehed, “Narco-Terrorism,” 307.

101. Luhmann, Theory of Society 2, 15.

102. Makarenko, “The Crime-Terror Continuum,” 130.

103. See note 100 above.

104. Dudley, Walking Ghosts, 43.

105. Kleinschmidt, “Differentiation Theory and the Global South,” 72.

106. Correa-Cabrera, Los Zetas Inc, 33.

107. Picarelli, “Malevolent International Relations,” 10.

108. We thank an anonymous reviewer for this suggestion.

109. Rochlin, “Re-imagining Colombia’s New Security Landscape,” 189.

110. Hutchinson and O’Malley, “Links between Terrorism and Criminality”.

111. Jones, “The Strategic Implications,” 21.

Additional information

Funding

This work did not receive external funding of any kind.

Notes on contributors

Jochen Kleinschmidt

Jochen Kleinschmidt is Associate Professor (Profesor Asociado), Faculty of International, Political and Urban Studies at Universidad del Rosario, Colombia. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Ludwig Maximilian University (LMU) of Munich, Germany. Former Assistant Professor at EAFIT University, Medellín, Visiting Lecturer at the University of the German Armed Forces, Munich, and Visiting Researcher at NATO School, Oberammergau. Several research trips to northwestern Mexico from 2008-2012. His work has been published in journals such as International Politics, Alternatives, Revista Brasileira de Política Internacional, and Colombia Internacional.

Oscar Palma

Oscar Palma is Assistant Professor (Profesor Principal), Faculty of International, Political and Urban Studies at Universidad del Rosario, Colombia. A former Commissioned Officer of the Colombian Military Forces serving as External Intelligence Analyst, he holds a PhD in International Relations, London School of Economics and Political Science, and Master of Arts in International Security Studies, University of Leicester, as a Chevening Scholar. He was a Research Visiting Fellow at the Department of War Studies at King’s College London and a Visiting Lecturer at the Colombian Joint War College and the Schools of Intelligence of the National Army and the National Navy. He is a frequent lecturer at the George W. Marshall European Center for Security Studies, and Scholar of the Perry Center for Hemispheric Defense Studies in several occasions. He has published in Estudios en Seguridad y Defensa, Revista Científica General José María Córdoba, Perspectivas en Inteligencia, and Revista de Relaciones Internacionales, Estrategia y Seguridad.