ABSTRACT
The highly complex structural factors underlying violence in both Colombia and Guatemala have been widely analyzed, and debated by generations of academics including the so-called Colombian ‘violentologists,’ together with those working within well-established disciplines of political science, economics, criminology and social science.1 Given the complicated nature of the phenomenon, no clear consensus exists as to the causes or roots of violence, with different interpretations widely contested.2 Chapter 1 illustrated this at the regional level with a brief summary of debates concerning the theorizing of violence, as well as a description of some of the most important interpretations of the causes of current violence in Latin America. In addition, Chapter 3 provided a more specific focus, at the national level in Colombia and Guatemala.
