The Violent Path to Power: Violence Against Social Activism and the Rise of Criminal Politicians

Social leaders play a crucial role in serving as mediators between communities and authorities. What happens when these leaders are systematically eliminated from their communities? This paper argues that the systematic elimination of social leaders not only weakens communities’ organisational capacity to denounce and resist criminal politicians but also heightens the fear and reduces the pool of leaders that can potentially run against them in the future. Focusing on the cycle of violence in 1980s Colombia, I find that towns exposed to violence against social activists experienced the rise of criminal politicians in the 2000s. Furthermore, survey evidence suggests that violence in these areas heightened citizens’ fear and diminished their willingness to politically mobilise. This paper underscores the importance of social leaders for sustaining democracy and highlights how their selective assassination facilitates the rise of criminal politicians.