Democracy and political participation in war-affected Colombia

What explains the political engagement of citizens in war-affected Colombia? Despite significant exposure to violence and intimidation, and deficiencies in the state’s territorial reach to guarantee free and fair participation, citizens remain politically active through community organizations, protests, and elections. Drawing on two large-scale panel surveys and qualitative fieldwork, this doctoral dissertation investigates citizens’ political engagement and the political attitudes associated with such engagement in the sixteen PDET regions—territories prioritized for the implementation of the 2016 peace agreement. The four papers analyse various dimensions of political engagement—including collective action for dispute resolution and public goods provision, as well as electoral and protest participation—and attitudes toward peace agreement implementation, which I argue are influenced by political engagement. The findings reveal that factors such as ethnic diversity resulting from forced displacement, property tax payment, transitional justice mechanisms, and weak institutional presence shape political engagement and attitudes in complex and often unexpected ways. The results demonstrate that, despite ongoing violence and limited state capacity, citizens in Colombia’s conflict-affected regions actively engage in local decision-making processes, challenge the influence of both state and non-state actors, and help shape local governance. These insights offer valuable implications for understanding democracy in fragile and post-conflict contexts across the Global South, explaining how democratic practices emerge and persist in regions where state authority is contested or absent. The dissertation thus contributes to broader debates on subnational democracy, state capacity, and political engagement in war-affected settings.