Why do women and children join insurgency groups? The subject has been a matter of extensive debate, with experts offering theories of motivation on well-known groups such as the National Liberation Front (FLN) or the Irish Republican Army (IRA). However, there has been a small amount of work comparing two insurgency groups and their participants to one another. This paper addresses the underlying reasons for why women and children join insurgencies, explicitly focusing on the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK) in Turkey from their origins to the present. The paper uses interviews from other scholarly works on the two groups and their participants. In doing this, the paper showcases that despite differences across geographic location and each group's motivation, there are similar indicators that motivate women and children to join insurgency groups. This paper finds that women and children are primarily motivated to join the FARC because of harsh gender inequality and economic poverty. Regarding women and children joining the PKK, their motivations primarily concern ethnic discrimination and gender inequality. The implications of this research will provide information about dynamics leading large numbers of women and children to join violent organizations. Furthermore, it will find that despite regional differences and group’s overall goals, there are universal motivating factors, like gender inequality, which influence women and children to participate in political violence.

This research uses the case study of Colombia and more specifically the peace negotiations between the government of Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia - People's Army (FARC-EP) to identify the influence that International Humanitarian Law (IHL) can have on a peacemaking process and what its humanitarian implications are.  By linking the humanitarian and peacemaking fields, the main objective of this research is to assess the extent to which IHL has influenced the peace negotiations with the FARC-EP. To conduct this study, desk research and interviews were conducted in order to find out all the subtle elements that were not documented in the literature.  The final aim of this research is to highlight how humanitarian obligations under IHL have become increasingly relevant in peacemaking processes and conflict resolution strategies, particularly in non-international armed conflicts. As found out through this case study on Colombia, IHL can help establishing trust through humanitarian confidence building measures reducing humanitarian crises caused by war. Finally, IHL can strengthen accountability and reparations during and after the peace process and provide a legal framework for consolidating peace agreements.

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Las motivaciones para investigar emergen desde la intención de ubicar a Colombia dentro del sistema internacional, más específicamente, dentro del área de influencia de los Estados Unidos. La motivación principal obedece a realizar un estudio sin apasionamiento alguno del caso colombiano, deseando explicar cómo factores externos, en este caso representados específicamente en la decisiva actuación de los Estados Unidos, tomándolo como factor externo decisivo, condicionando al Sistema Político teniendo en cuenta el Narcoterrorismo. Además de las motivaciones secundarias que de ella resultan, tales como: Caracterizar el Sistema Político; Identificar los factores que lo condicionan; analizar la relación de cada factor con el sistema político y el Estado; y, entre otras; escribir las relaciones triangulares entre sistema político, narcoterrorismo y los Estados Unidos.

(in English): This work studies the genesis of the FARC's ideological nature and the consequences of changes in its development which have had an impact on the conduct of warfare. A number of aspects which, in varying degrees, affect the direction of the guerrilla group are analysed successively. Firstly, the roots of the movement are discussed along with events which led to the creation of the FARC and the legitimacy of its political program. Thereafter, the functionality of the security policy of Colombian presidents for the last thirty years is examined. Participation in the illegal drug trade, which constantly changes the guerrilla's mechanism of functioning, has had appreciable influence on the process of forming the movement and consequently on the public view of the organization. Based on the study of the stated aspects and the analysis of three key constituents of guerrilla movement - political, military and economic components - a scheme describing the hierarchic realignment that has resulted in the consequent transformation of the organization was created.

Heart and Minds concept is one of the most overlooked approaches of the counterinsurgency. This is surprising especially because the classic coercive strategies are struggling with producing sufficient outcomes. In fact it is quite the opposite in practice and they fail to supress the insurgency ultimately. Hearts and Minds strategy is based on assumption that if the government is able to gain public support the insurgents will lose vital resource for their fight and they will collapse eventually. In this thesis I am going to explore the potential the Hearts and Minds strategy has and demonstrate its strengths and weaknesses. There are five cases of insurgency to be examined in which the Hearts and Minds has been used successfully or unsuccessfully. The first case is the Emergency in British Malaya. Gerard Templer is considered as an author of the Hearts and Minds phrase, therefore his administration of Malaya should be examined I believe. Second case is the FARC insurgency in Colombia. Third case is the Zapatistas movement in Mexico. Fourth case is the US invasion into Iraq in 2003. Last case is the 2012 Tuaregs uprising in Mali and subsequent development. It is clear from the findings that Hearts and minds has its place among the COIN approaches. Even though it is not best suited for all...

The purpose of this study is to examine the Colombian conflict, more specifically how it became peace in Colombia after five decades. The study will be limited by year due to the scope of the study. The analysis will specifically focus on the years 2002 to 2016. This essay is a case study, with the Colombia conflict as the focus. Furthermore, the theoretical framework for the thesis will mainly be the rational choice model.  The analysis is based on various analysis tools and an analysis model. This will be consistent in the study that constitutes the main investigation in the thesis. The theoretical perspectives will be examined using the article "Essence of Decision: Explaining the Cuban Missile Crisis" written by Graham Allison and Philip Zelikow. Furthermore, other relevant articles will be processed to get a better analysis of the Colombia conflict. The articles will, among other things, be of great help in answering the study's questions - In what way can the theory of rational choice explain the conflict resolution in Colombia between the years 2002–2016? And Which motives have primarily governed the state, the FARC guerrillas, and the AUC - paramilitary group.

I will argue that a discussion of sovereignty as it relates to internal conflict deepens our understanding of the Colombian conflict, and in turn, the Colombian conflict deepens the ongoing discussion on sovereignty. Internal armed conflict is a tool to free and dominate populations, to save and kill individuals, and to destroy and build institutions. Thomas Hobbes and John Locke set an initial framework for understanding sovereignty. Armed actors use violence to create a sphere of influence that overlaps with the state’s legal jurisdiction: armed actors use violence as a strategy of hegemonic state building. Overlapping territorial claims challenge the integrity of Colombian sovereignty. I will argue in this thesis that the Colombian example demonstrates that a government’s sovereignty can be threatened by an ideological competitor (FARC), outlaws -- whether state created (AUC) or independent of the state (drug cartels) -- and by foreign nations (US). If the collective actions of these actors can effectively contest the state’s legitimacy, comparative advantage in violence, and territorial claims, armed actors can effectively undermine the state’s sovereignty. In this way, the Colombian example is a rich case study in domestic sovereignty.

O conflito intraestatal colombiano acumulou tentativas de pacificação negociada com diferentes grupos guerrilheiros. Enquanto o processo de paz de Andrés Pastrana (1998-2002) fracassou em acordar a paz com as FARC, os diálogos do presidente atual, Manuel Juan Santos (2010-2018), lograram firmar inédito acordo de paz com a guerrilha. Por que um acordo com as FARC foi possível em 2016, e não em 2002? Para responder tal questão, a pesquisa se vale do método comparativo de Sistemas Mais Similares para examinar a hipótese de que a Colômbia do presidente Santos dispôs de maiores capacidades estatais para empreender um bem-sucedido processo de paz do que na época de Andrés Pastrana. Através de levantamento bibliográfico ligado à literatura de Capacidade Estatal, bem como à literatura histórica sobre o conflito colombiano, elenca-se 12 variáveis agrupadas em três grupos para serem testadas em ambos os processos de paz. Para além da introdução, referencial teórico e referencial metodológico, esta dissertação se divide em quatro capítulos: (i) histórico do conflito colombiano, (ii) análise de variáveis socioeconômicas, (iii) análise de variáveis estratégico-militares, (iiii) análise dos principais atores envolvidos no conflito. Como conclusão, encontrou-se que melhores indicadores econômicos e militares, bem como maior coesão institucional, foram cruciais na garantia do acordo de paz de 2016. Contudo, compreender como se deu a relação causal entre esses aspectos e o desfecho positivo de 2016 demandará novas pesquisas mais aprofundadas em aspectos específicos. / The intrastate Colombian conflict has accumulated attempts of negotiated pacification with several guerrilla groups. If, in one hand, there is Andrés Pastrana’s (1998-2002) failure to achieve peace with the FARC, in the other hand, the current president’s attempt, Juan Manuel Santos (2010-2018) managed to stablish an unprecedented peace accord with the guerrilla. Why such accord was possible in 2016 but not in 2002? To answer this question, this research uses the Most Similar Systems comparative method in order to examine the hypothesis that the Colombia of current president Santos enjoyed better state capacities to undergo a well-succeeded peace process than during Andrés Pastrana’s years. Through literature review related to the State Capacity theory as well as the historic literature of the Colombian conflict, this research lists 12 variables grouped in three groups so that they can be tested in both peace processes. Besides an introduction, theoretical framework and methodological framework, this dissertation divides itself in four chapters: (i) history of the Colombian conflict, (ii) analysis of socioeconomic variables, (iii) analysis of strategic-military variables, (iiii) analysis of the main actors related to the conflict. As a conclusion, the research finds that better economic and military aspects, as well as better institutional cohesion, were crucial in achieving the peace agreement of 2016. However, understanding how such causal relation worked between these aspects and the positive outcome of 2016 will demand new deeper research on specific aspects.

Despite the general academic consensus that liberal democracy has triumphed over communism, Marxist-inspired movements continue to thrive across the global south. This is a curious phenomenon in the post-Cold War era. This paper explores the recent growth of both The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Naxalite-Maoist Insurgency in India, and compares the two groups. It analyzes the factors that have led to their resurgence, in particular, the political and economic dimensions. Specifically, it addresses the impact of two dominant factors in fomenting their resurgence: neo-liberalism and political exclusion. First, recent growth of both groups seems to correlate with the adoption of neo-liberal economic policies and progressively draconian structural adjustments, which aggravated existing poverty and inequality, in their respective countries. Second, recent growth of both groups seems to correlate with political exclusion of marginalized groups, an exclusion increasingly enforced by state violence. The survival and growth of Marxist-inspired armed movements across the globe also raises important questions about the future of liberal democracy. This paper asks whether the persistence of Marxist-inspired movements across the global south has given the lie to the "end of history" theory, and what their resurgence says, if anything, about the "clash of civilizations theory. It concludes that the success of these movements challenges the apparent triumph of liberal democracy in both Colombia and India, and perhaps in the post-Cold War era globally.