Protest, violence and political participation in Colombia. The multidimensional perspective of social protest

In the national panorama of the last 30 years, social protests have constituted one of the most effective tools of political participation when it comes to highlighting the needs and interests of the Colombian population. This underpinning of protest in the political arena coincides with a growing concern on the part of the State and the security forces to guarantee the fundamental rights of citizens and, in turn, to preserve order and security. With this purpose in mind, the present research aims to design an integrated model of police training that takes into consideration the multidimensional perspective of social protest and aligns it with the processes of transformation and modernization with a human rights approach of the National Police. For this purpose, a mixed exploratory and correlational methodology was adopted. The perspectives and judgments regarding social protest and police action were investigated in a sample composed of university students, academic experts and police personnel. The results of the research allow us to establish a complex network of relationships between multiple structural and proximal factors (economic, political, cultural, situational and interactional). Two determining elements were identified in the way in which protests evolve into violent demonstrations or remain as peaceful and political expressions: intensifiers and pacifiers. Finally, with these elements, the creation of a proposal for a model of analysis of social protest as an input for the process of integral training of uniformed members of the National Police, where respect for human rights is highlighted, was achieved.