Towards a Privately Securitized Democracy: A Case Study of the Last Two Decades in Colombia

The paper addresses an interesting intellectual puzzle regarding the impact of militarization on democracy and economic growth. It aims to answer the following research question: despite the fact that militarization is held to be negatively associated with democracy and economic growth in Latin America, why does the militarization process in Colombia seem to have had a positive effect on democracy and economic growth? The main argument to reply to this question is that the private security industry that emerged and evolved in the country has had a particular and positive influence on the militarization process in the last decades. In other words, the privatization of security has minimized the negative effects of militarization on democracy and has encouraged economic growth. The inclusion of the privatization of security variable into the analysis of the country’s militarization process provides at least four elements that help explain the positive impact of militarization on democracy and economic growth in Colombia. Without the private security variable, the militarization trend that took place in Colombia may have produced similar negative impacts as the reviewed literature on the region projected. Therefore, it is possible to affirm that at least in the last two decades, Colombia has in fact become a privately secured democracy.