Knowledge Bank

This thesis investigates the relationship between national economic and political developmental agendas on post-conflict reparation measures for victims of armed conflict. I focus on the Colombian land restitution policy which aims to return millions of Colombians displaced during the Colombian armed conflict (1964-2016) to their land. First, I use a novel dataset compiled via open-source land restitution cases to analyze the impacts of land grabbing and economic dispossession during the Colombian armed conflict on current restitution cases. I use two logistic regressions incorporating my dataset and municipal level economic data to examine factors influencing restitution sentencing by land restitution judges. I argue that economic linkages formed between state and non-state actors during wartime endure in post conflict settings and privileges these actors via favorable developmental policy. I explore the mechanisms for these findings using two case studies. First, I conduct a historical analysis of hydroelectric dam development in Eastern Antioquia, focusing on the contentious history between dam development and land dispossession. I break down the political justifications for reductions in the size of restituted land when claims conflict with hydroelectric dam development. Second, I analyze dispossession and capital accumulation by the defunct non-governmental organization FUNPAZCOR. In this, I discuss motivations for dispossession including a novel theory of the use of dispossessed land as a guarantor for agricultural loans and subsidies. This thesis identifies conflict as an opportunity for primitive accumulation and provides insights into the impact of agrarian change during conflict on modern institution-building in Colombia.