Doctoral Dissertation Research: The Effect of Political Reform on Rural Social Conflict in Colombia

9401114埃文斯：这是博士论文研究计划助学金下的一个奖项。这项研究将考察政治改革对哥伦比亚农村社会冲突的影响。在过去十年里，哥伦比亚呈现出了民主化改革和不断升级的政治暴力的矛盾趋势，这一悖论违背了民主过渡和游击队运动的主流理论的预测。新的理论表明，精英支持的暴力可能会升级，以应对农民对农村机构的更多控制，或者在某些情况下，更具代表性的机构现在可以调解和平、制度化的冲突解决方案。这项研究将研究一项具体的改革，允许直接选举县长，对几个农村冲突的影响。调查的四个阶段将集中于：1)暴力民主化的国家背景，2)农村社会冲突的原因，3)改革对这些冲突的影响，以及4)造成这些影响的机制。这项研究将对政治社会学和发展社会学做出贡献。当今政策制定者面临的关键国际问题围绕着各种民主化途径的成败，因此这项研究的结果应该具有实质性意义。除了这项研究将获得的科学成果外，这一奖项还将对一位非常有前途的学生完成博士论文的研究提供实质性的帮助。从而为国家未来的科学人才和下一代社会科学家的深入培养做出贡献。***

9401114 Evans This is an award under the Grants for Improving Doctoral Dissertation Research Program. The study will examine the effect of political reform on rural social conflict in Columbia. During the past decade, Columbia has presented contradictory trends toward democratizing reform and escalating political violence, a paradox that defies the predictions of prevailing theories of democratic transition and guerrilla movements. New theories suggest that elite-sponsored violence may escalate in reaction to increased peasant control over rural institutions, or that in some cases more representative institutions can now mediate peaceful, institutional resolutions to conflicts. This research will study the effect of a specific reform, allowing the direct election of county executives, on several rural conflicts. The four stages of the investigation will focus on: 1) the national context of violent democratization, 2) the causes of rural social conflict, 3) the effect of reform on these conflicts, and 4) the mechanisms accounting for these effects. %%% This research will contribute to political sociology and to the sociology of development. The key international issues for policy makers today revolve around the success or failure of various routes to democratization, so the findings of the study should have substantive significance. In addition to the scientific gains to be achieved by the research, this award will materially assist a highly promising student in completing research for the Ph.D. dissertation. Thus it contributes to the future scientific manpower of the nation and the thorough training of the next generation of social scientists. ***