Since at least the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, security has emerged as a major political paradigm built upon an expansive definition of state control emphasizing not only the mere policing of violations of law, but the means through which the state asserts itself as a particular political entity through the militarized management of social actors both inside and outside its borders. Through an analysis of the case of Colombia's Democratic Security policy, this dissertation documents the transformations of social mobilization within the boundaries of the newly politicized, and newly globalized, security state. The research builds upon six months of ethnographic work and in-depth interviews with Valle del Cauca regional chapters of pacifist feminist grassroots network Women's Peaceful Route, with human rights advocacy organization Permanent Committee for Human Rights, and with afrodescendant movement Process of Black Communities. Analyzing the work of these organizations, this dissertation assesses the uneven impact of security policies on social actors claiming territorial, cultural, and political rights. Through these organizations the work illuminates how security is gendered and racialized, while it is strongly resisted by the movements' challenge to the model of citizenship promoted by the state. The research poses that, no longer able to see human rights work in terms of the defense of individuals, social movements have instead redeployed the concept of human rights as a mode of articulating radical democratic demands reflecting a collective social struggle. Illustrating the connections between neoliberal development and security, and its impact for afrodescendants and women's claims for rights and recognition, the dissertation shows how global discourses on security influence the constitution of new social identities through the constant re-iteration of the question 'who is the terrorist,' and the subsequent re-articulation of new parameters of citizenship. Beyond Colombia's case, this research advances existing scholarship regarding the technologies of statehood in the post September 11 era, at the same time that it contributes to an understanding of social mobilization in the context of global and hemispheric governance.

This paper analyzes the persistence of bipartidism in Valle del Cauca (Colombia), from the results of the local council elections in the 42 districts of the department, between 1992 and 2015. In order to explain this electoral phenomenon, a classic institutional variable such as the magnitude of the district (MD) is used.Using panel data on a random effects model, this paper seeks to assess the existence of a causal relation between MD and the fragmentation of the party system. Then, it shows in which districts, of specific magnitude, the persistence was stronger. In other words, in which districts the transition process to a multiparty system takes longer and what are the key moments during this process.To analyze the persistence of bipartidism the segmented Nagayama Triangle (Nagayama, 1997; Grofman, Chiaramonte, D’Alimonte & Feld, 2004) is used, which reveals information about the nature of party competition. Results show that in Valle del Cauca the year 2000 represented the key moment in the transition from a two party system to a multiparty one.On synthesis, this paper explains the transition of the numeric format of the party system under a temporal perspective and it shows the difference on the speed of this changes, for districts of different magnitude. The results show that districts of bigger magnitude migrate faster from a two party logic to a format with a larger number of competitors (a multiparty one); in contrast to the districts of smaller magnitude. / El presente trabajo analiza la persistencia del bipartidismo en el departamento del Valle del Cauca (Colombia), a partir de los resultados electorales de los 42 Concejos municipales pertenecientes a él, entre 1992 y 2015. Para lograr nuestro objetivo, se utiliza una variable institucional clásica como es la magnitud de los distritos (MD).Mediante la utilización de datos de panel en un modelo de efectos aleatorios, se pretende evaluar la existencia de una relación causal entre MD y el nivel de fragmentación. Posteriormente se revisará en qué municipios (y en qué magnitud) existe una mayor persistencia de este fenómeno; es decir, en cuáles tarda más el proceso de descongelamiento del sistema de partidos y cuáles son los momentos clave de la transición de un sistema predominantemente bipartidista a uno multipartidista.Para analizar la persistencia del bipartidismo, se utilizó como herramienta gráfica el Triángulo segmentado de Nagayama (Nagayama 1997; Grofman, Chiaramonte, D’Alimonte y Feld 2004), que revela visualmente información sobre la naturaleza de la competencia partidista. Se encontró que, para el caso de este departamento, el año 2000 representó el momento clave de la transición hacia un sistema de partidos competitivo.En síntesis, el trabajo explica el tránsito del formato numérico del sistema bajo una perspectiva temporal, y muestra las diferencias en la velocidad de los cambios para los distritos con distintas magnitudes. Los hallazgos muestran que los municipios de mayor magnitud migran más rápidamente desde distritos con dominio bipartidista hacia distritos con mayor número de contendientes (es decir multipartidistas), en contraste a lo que ocurre con aquellos de menor magnitud.

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