State, Political Power and Criminality in Civil War: An Editorial Revisiting Old debates From Different angles

Abstract

This special issue revisits and reframes the old, but active, debate on the relationship between criminality and civil war. It argues that the terms in which the debate is generally posed are still inadequate to address the complexities of this relationship, showing how criminalisation and de-criminalisation are deeply political and hotly contested processes.  The shifting movements towards the separation -or convergence- between criminality and politics are part of the processes of constitution of both political power and state. The articles in the issue flesh out the mechanisms and social dynamics through which this takes place.