Special issue: Armed actors in Latin America in the 1990s

Explores factors contributing to persistence of political and social violence, despite democratic consolidation, due to the state's failure to monopolize legitimate use of force and maintain public order, thus allowing various groups to use violence in pursuit of their goals; focus on Colombia, Guatemala, and Peru; 5 articles. Contents: Low intensity democracies: Latin America in the post-dictatorial era, by Dirk Krujit; Police reform and the peace process in Guatemala: the fifth promotion of the national civilian police, by Marie-Louise Glebbeek; Remembering civil patrols in Joyabaj, Guatemala, by Simone Remijnse; Rondas Campesinas in the Peruvian Civil War: peasant self-defence organizations in Ayacucho, by Mario Fumerton; Ethnic rights under threat: the Black Peasant Movement against armed groups' pressure in the Chocó, Colombia, by Mieke Wouters.