Open Access. Powered by Scholars. Published by Universities.®
Articles 1 - 1 of 1
Full-Text Articles in Arts and Humanities
The Aspirational State: State Effects In Putumayo, Winifred L. Tate
The Aspirational State: State Effects In Putumayo, Winifred L. Tate
Winifred L. Tate
At the turn of the millennium, conditions in the Putumayo region of Colombia challenged
virtually every aspect of the standard narrative of the relations between state, society, territory,
citizenship, and rights. The normative ideal of modern state-society relations assumes territorial
control via a state apparatus capable of guaranteeing citizens’ rights and the rule of law when
threatened by illegal activities, armed actors undermining the state’s monopoly of force, or
interference from other nation-states. In Putumayo, however, it was not the national state
apparatus that attempted to safeguard the rights of citizens but rather a criminalized population of
smallholding cocaleros (coca …