SPERI is delighted to publish a new research brief Committed to Peace: The Potential of Former FARC-EP Midlevel Commanders as Local Leaders in the Peace Process by Dr Anastasia Shesterinina, Lecturer in Politics and International Politics in the Department of Politics and International Relations at the University of Sheffield.
Drawing on extensive field research conducted between 2018 and 2020, the new research brief challenges conventional understanding of peacebuilding in Colombia. It recasts our understanding of the potential role of former midlevel commanders of the FARC-EP, the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia—People’s Army. Midlevel commanders of armed groups are characterised as “spoilers” of peace, but Dr Shesterinina’s research outlines how they can also play important roles in advancing peace.