By challenging more common analyses that point to the existence of a post-conflict scenario in
Colombia and those that resist the narrative of success both of which operate within the logic
of presence absence of violence this book proposes instead that we think of post-conflict in
terms of the transformation of the rules on the use of violence. The analysis unfolds in two
parts: the first explores the conditions of possibility of the Colombian success story and the
web of criteria legitimizing the success as well as the silencing mechanisms allowing for
Colombia to circulate internationally as a formula to be replicated in other parts of the world
the second focuses on the historicization of the mechanisms through which new rules are
transmitted among the professionals of the public force specifically the transformations of
military schools and training centers in Colombia from times of war to peace. The author argues
that key to this transformation is a unique discursive articulation around the military
professional which slides from citizen-soldier to expert-soldier.
