Temporal and Spatial Dynamics of Trust
Short- and Long-Term Effects of Violent Events in Colombia’s Civil War1

First version October 2024, this version Oct 22, 2024
Paper prepared for presentation at the 2025 Eurasian Peace Science Conference
(Faculty of Political Science, University of Zagreb, Croatia)
(January 24-25 2025)

Simon Hug2 3 4, Cécile Richetta 5, Sarah Zahreddine 6  7

Abstract

Recent research on the impacts of violence in civil war contexts has demonstrated that exposure to violent events can have long-lasting effects on individuals. While much of this work has either concentrated on short-term consequences or examined long-term effects, often after the conflict has ended and even across generations, there is a need to understand better how these effects differ over time and space. Drawing on a recently conducted panel survey in Colombia, this study offers a comparative analysis of the temporal and geographical variations in conflict exposure based on detailed event data. Our findings reveal that both proximate and distant violent events influence interpersonal and political trust differently. Furthermore, the specific characteristics of violence, such as the identity of the perpetrator, lead to varying impacts on individuals.

Footnotes:

1Funding by the Swiss National Science Foundation (Grant No. TMAG-1_216066/1) is gratefully acknowledged.
2Département de science politique, Faculté des sciences de la société; Université de Genève; 40 Bd du Pont d'Arve; 1211 Genève 4; Switzerland; email: simon.hug@unige.ch
3CISA, Université de Genève
4 CefES research fellow, Università degli Studi di Milano-Bicocca
5Département de science politique, Faculté des sciences de la société; Université de Genève; 40 Bd du Pont d'Arve; 1211 Genève 4; Switzerland; email: Cecile.Richetta@unige.ch
6Département de science politique, Faculté des sciences de la société; Université de Genève; 40 Bd du Pont d'Arve; 1211 Genève 4; Switzerland; email: Sarah.Zahreddine@unige.ch
7CISA, Université de Genève

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