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How can we understand change in armed conflict, both in terms of the phenomenon as a whole, as well as within individual conflicts? This Special Issue sets a new agenda on the theme of change in armed conflict. Studying conflict as a dynamic social phenomenon requires embracing interdisciplinarity and methodological pluralism, which this Special Issue facilitates through a shared conceptual framework on five dimensions of change as a 'lingua franca' across diverse approaches and perspectives. It advances debates through three contributions: by critically assessing pre-existing categories and labels; by accounting for perceptions and experiences; and by scaling analyses across varying units and levels of analysis.

In contemporary armed conflict, the spatiality of violence and the constellation of actors involved in it change frequently, but how these changes affect one another remains poorly understood. What explains the spatial shift of areas affected by violence in multi-actor conflicts? We argue that the emergence of a new dominant conflict actor facilitates a shift in conflict-related violence. We theorize the causal mechanism as 'low-risk/high-opportunity attraction'. It exists in territories where these actors can draw on a local support base and enhance capacities to engage in violence. To demonstrate our theory's validity, we conduct two plausibility probes: on the conflict in Colombia paired with the conflict in the Lake Chad region, and on the conflict in the Afghan–Pakistani borderlands paired with the conflict in Iraq/Syria. We adopt a mixed-methods approach integrating visualizations, spatial analysis, network analysis and process tracing, drawing, inter alia, on interviews from remote regions of war-torn Colombia and Iraq.

Drawing on the experience of Samaniego, Colombia, this article explores processes of civil resistance in the midst of armed conflict. Based on data from fieldwork in Samaniego and other localities in Colombia, as well as literature on civil resistance, peacebuilding, and rebel governance, we analyze the process of mobilization of the population of this war‐affected municipality against armed violence from its beginning in 1997 until the year 2014. As we contend, this process arose as the combined result of factors related to agency and structure. The national and departmental contexts, particularly the holding of peace negotiations between the government and National Liberation Army (ELN) rebels and the existence of similar local peace initiatives, contributed to the establishment of a propitious environment for the mobilization that took place in 1997 and led to the declaration of Samaniego as a peace territory. In terms of agency, two mayors and various civil society actors played a leading role in the process. Several factors accounted for the success of this initiative in achieving, at least to some extent, its objective of reducing violence. We cluster these into three sets of factors: structural factors, the characteristics of the civil resistance movement, and the strategic decisions made by the movement. A better understanding of these factors and their interactions can shed light on the dynamics of civil resistance in situations of armed conflict and their outcomes, offering significant insights into scholarly debates about civil resistance and local peace formation.

This article explores the outcomes of the peace initiatives of two Colombian borderland communities: Samaniego and Las Mercedes. Both attempted to persuade armed actors to abide by certain rules in their territories, yet the community of Samaniego was more effective than that of Las Mercedes. We use data from fieldwork, including interviews, observation and documents, and secondary literature, to compare the two initiatives. We argue that, despite similar regional circumstances, including the presence of multiple armed actors and the strategic importance of both territories for drug cultivation and trafficking, the outcomes differed for three reasons: first, the distinct characteristics of the civil resistance movements, including the levels of participation, cohesion and the type of leadership; second, the differing nature of the relationship of each community with armed actors; third, the role of external actors. Further, we found that national peace processes can catalyse local peace efforts.

Since the 2016 Havana Peace Accord (HPA), for many Colombians security has hardly improved. This article argues that this is largely due to socially rooted marginalisation that constrains citizen participation and contributes to entrenched insecurity in the country, especially its border regions. We show how post‐HPA community‐level responses to insecurity, including constructive engagement with the state, can enhance security and kick‐start processes of de‐marginalisation. Drawing on original data from interviews in Cesar Department and a series of cross‐stakeholder fora in 2019, we demonstrate the utility of the citizen security lens when examining processes of marginalisation, de‐marginalisation, and their impact on perceptions of (in)security of marginalised communities.