Today we will be discussing the ongoing violence and civil conflict in Colombia, a country that has been marked by growing tensions between guerilla groups and the national government. Since the 2016 peace plan to ease such tensions and punish the extremist groups, there has been a rise in street protests, violence, and internally displaced individuals. In spite of this plan’s implementation, how has the country managed to suffer from a combination of political polarization and civilian backlash? How have the early causes of this conflict reemerged and intensified within the past two years? Here to answer these questions and more is Dr. Oliver Kaplan.
Oliver Kaplan is an Associate Professor at the Josef Korbel School of International Studies at the University of Denver, specializing in Foreign Policy Analysis and Human Rights. Throughout his career, he has been named as a Jennings Randolph Senior Fellow in the U.S. Institute of Peace and a postdoctoral Research Associate at both Princeton and Stanford University. He stands as the author of “Resisting War: How Communities Protect Themselves”, an analysis on how civilian communities mobilize and protect themselves from wartime violence.
Episode Credits:
Editor: Leo Kamer
Hosts: Michelle Sicard, Nicole Rivas
Music: Zee Yuen
Hopkins Podcast on Foreign Affairs 