In The Frontier Effect, Teo Ballve challenges the notion that in Uraba, Colombia, the cause of the region's violent history and unruly contemporary condition is the absence of the state. Although he takes this locally oft-repeated claim seriously, he demonstrates that Uraba is more than a case of Hobbesian political disorder.

Through his insightful exploration of war, paramilitary organizations, grassroots support and resistance, and drug-related violence, Ballve argues that Uraba, rather than existing in statelessness, has actually been an intense and persistent site of state-building projects. Indeed, these projects have thrust together an unlikely gathering of guerilla groups, drug-trafficking paramilitaries, military strategists, technocratic planners, local politicians, and development experts each seeking to give concrete coherence to the inherently unwieldy abstraction of "the state" in a space in which it supposedly does not exist. By untangling this odd mix, Ballve reveals how Colombia's violent conflicts have produced surprisingly coherent and resilient, if not at all benevolent, regimes of rule.

About the Author

Teo Ballve is Assistant Professor in Peace and Conflict Studies and Geography at Colgate University. He is the former editor of the NACLA Report on the Americas, published by the North American Congress on Latin America.

Reviews

The Frontier Effect is beautifully written, grounding a complex argument in a carefully crafted narrative. This book crosses disciplinary divides in geography, anthropology, history, and political science. Scholars interested in conflict and peace studies, political economy, and development should absolutely read and teach this book.

* The Journal of Latin American and Caribbean Anthropology *

Teo Ballve provides an expansive, historical, and ethnographic analysis of diverse examples of state formation in the northwestern region of Colombia known as Uraba. The Frontier Effect is an engaging and sophisticated contribution to existing critical geographical scholarship concerning the social production of territory, land grabbing, and the political economy of conflict. [T]he text awards readers with an innovative and original analysis of the country's historical and ongoing conflict.

* Human Geography *

Overall, Ballve offers outstanding research that will catch the attention of scholars interested in analysing the territorial contradictions of the relative stability of Colombia's democracy and the different forms and stages of the country's protracted political violence.

* The Journal of Peasant Studies *

The Frontier Effect will remain a vital guide to Colombia's ongoing yet fragile transition away from internal conflict, as well as to the nature of informal and formal politics in the contemporary world.

* Hispanic American Historical Review *



Book Information
ISBN 9781501747540
Author Teo Ballve
Format Paperback
Page Count 228
Imprint Cornell University Press
Publisher Cornell University Press
Weight(grams) 454g
Dimensions(mm) 229mm * 152mm * 18mm