Carl Scdmitt's partisan theory and the armed conflict in Colombia

Abstract

This article shows the contribution of Carl Schmitt’s partisan theory to the understanding and analysis of the armed conflict in Colombia. The analysis seeks to incorporate elements without which a comprehensive understanding of the phenomenon of the Colombian conflict would be incomplete. These elements are: the important role in the degradation of the conflict of the presence of paramilitary groups as an irregular armed group, the breakdown of the political element in the insurgents, the illegal methods used to combat irregular confrontation, the precariousness of the state, not only to provide security and monopolize the use of force but also to meet the budgets of socalled “social state law”, and the role that third parties are playing in the Colombian conflict.