Rebels or money makers? Decentralization and the colombian armed conflict

Abstract

This paper assesses the relationship between fiscal decentralization processes and internal armed conflicts. By using the Colombian case, the paper tests the hypothesis that the decentralization process carried out since the late 1980s, empowered the illegal armed groups and therefore increased the conflict in the periphery of the country. In order to test this hypothesis, the research uses data on human rights violations, municipal income, and distance to the department’s capital at the subnational level for the period between 1984 to 2016. The different estimations find a positive and significant relationship between the decentralization process and the Colombian armed conflict in the periphery of the country.