The South American republic of Colombia continues to face remarkable challenges, both in terms of its own internal development and because it is at the epicenter of the U.S. “War on Drugs.” Yet despite the intriguing and difficult questions that the case presents and the billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars spent there, Colombia receives substantially less scholarly attention than many of its neighbors. Christopher Welna and Gustavo Gallón's edited volume helps at least in part to fill this gap in the literature by providing a timely and valuable examination of this complex case. The book is the result of a conference held at Notre Dame on the problems facing Colombia and includes work from many top scholars who have long examined these problems.

Welna's introductory essay nicely highlights some of the challenging questions that the Colombian case raises: Why has violence persisted for as long as it has in Colombia? How has democracy survived in such a context? And who should be held to account for the violence? The introduction, though relatively brief, demonstrates why more scholarly attention is needed and provides a number of avenues for scholars to explore. For example, Welna notes (along with these questions) the need for more rigorous theoretical explanations for the problems that continue to plague Colombia, as well as the broader regional applicability that such work could have. The book is divided into three sections that parallel its title, containing chapters on peace, democracy, and human rights.

The peace section is, unfortunately, more about violence than about peace, and it provides an insightful overview of the multifaceted nature of the conflict in Colombia. While press accounts frequently conflate the various types of violence that exist in Colombia with such phrases as “multidecade civil war,” in fact there have been a number of different, overlapping, and evolving conflicts in Colombia since the 1940s that have relevance to the ongoing bloodshed that plagues it citizenry to this day. The essays in this section do an effective job of presenting the context for the various forms of violence, from the basic culture of violence that has plagued Colombian society to the specific (guerrilla, narcotrafficking, and paramilitary) conflicts that exist. The section does an especially effective job of detailing the basic evolution of the drug trade and describing the Sisyphean peace processes.

Of special note is Daniel García-Peña's piece on the evolving peace process between the state and various guerrilla and paramilitary groups. The essay succinctly details over two decades of conflict and complicity, and frames the discussion around the approaches of different Colombian presidents to the conflict. Also notable is Herbert Tico Braun's essay on Colombian political culture, Cynthia Arnson's piece on U.S. involvement, and a very useful overview of the evolution of the Colombian drug trade by Álvaro Camcho Guizado and Andrés López Restrepo.

The second section examines Colombia's ongoing quest to build a healthy democracy. The most rigorous chapter in the volume, authored by Matthew Shugart, Erika Moreno, and Luis Fajardo, examines the impact of specific institutional features in Colombian democracy over the past several decades and the recent reforms that may set Colombia's democratic institutions on a more productive path. This section also includes a useful piece by long-time Colombianists Eduardo Pizarro and Ana María Bejarano on the issue of political reform and another by Francisco Guitiérrez Sanín on the role of organized crime in Colombian politics.

The human rights section is the shortest, with only two chapters. The piece by Arlene Tickner raises the serious question of how U.S. involvement in Colombia has further militarized the anti-drug effort, which has, in turn, further worsened the human rights situation in countryside.

Gustavo Gallón, one of the volume's editors, also contributes a chapter connecting the struggle for human rights and democratic development.

Two critiques can be leveled at the text. The first is simply that the topics under discussion are so vast and complex that one volume is insufficient to address them adequately. It can, therefore, be hoped that the book will lead to further, deeper explorations of these themes. The second—a typical problem for edited works—is that it lacks an overarching theoretical framework that can link the individual essays. In other words, while there is thematic cohesion, the volume lacks any theoretical or methodological commonality. However, the overall quality and usefulness of the work overshadows such concerns.

The text is written in a way that will make it useful both to scholars and to more general readers interested in better understanding this understudied case. It certainly belongs on the bookshelf of those interested in enhancing their understanding of contemporary Colombia, and it perhaps may inspire some new (and much needed) academic work on this important case. At a minimum it should be required reading for U.S. policymakers who make decisions that have life-and-death consequences for the people of Colombia.