Technologies of Power: Infrastructure, Services and Actors in the Colombia War

Abstract

[EN] This doctoral dissertation, presented as a compendium of articles, explores how the state and non-state actors construct and contest power in contexts of armed conflict in Colombia through the provision of infrastructure and services. Based on a qualitative methodology that includes fieldwork, interviews, participant observation, and archival research, the thesis examines six case studies: the work of military engineers, the FARC-EP's health system, human rights practices in Afro-Colombian communities, and the Catholic Church's role in peacebuilding. Challenging the notion of the state as a homogeneous entity, the research conceptualises it as a heterogeneous and co-produced construct. Infrastructure-such as schools, hospitals, and roads-emerges not only as a material asset but as a technology of power and legitimacy. The dissertation contributes to the fields of Political Science and International Relations by offering a critical Global South perspective on statehood, sovereignty, hybrid governance, and peacebuilding processes in historically marginalised territories.