Princeton University

Robert Karl studies 20th century Latin America, with a focus on the political and social histories of Colombia, Mexico, Cuba, and Brazil.  He is currently working on two projects derived from his dissertation, "State Formation, Violence, and Cold War in Colombia, 1957-1966" (Harvard, 2009).  The first, "Alliance for Progress?  Development and Counter-Insurgency in Colombia's Cold War, 1957-1966," explores the pivotal early National Front period through the intersection of Colombian and transnational Cold War politics.  It illustrates how challenges to effective governance from inside and outside Colombia undermined support for democracy and the National Front among the Colombian popular classes, including the rural Communists who would form the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) in 1966.  The most detailed archival examination of the FARC in any language, the project also traces the related history of U.S.-backed development and counter-insurgency in Colombia, the showcase for U.S. economic and military aid in the 1960s. 

The second project examines the politics of history, reconciliation, and forgetting during the late Violencia, with a focus on how Colombian policy-makers, academics, and citzens conceptualized violence and thus contributed to the construction of the idea of "La Violencia."

Karl's research and teaching interests also include U.S.-Latin American relations, Cold War and international history, commodity history, labor history, and the integration of GIS and other technological/inter-disciplinary approaches into history.