Repertoires of Terrorism: Organizational Identity and Violence in Colombia's Civil War

Why do armed groups employ terrorism in markedly different ways during civil wars? Drawing on more than a decade of fieldwork, Andreas E. Feldmann examines the disparate behavior of actors including guerrilla groups, state security forces, and paramilitaries during Colombia’s long and bloody civil war. Analyzing the varieties of violence in this conflict, he develops a new theory of the dynamics of terrorism in civil wars.

Feldmann argues that armed groups’ distinct uses—repertoires—of terro...