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42 Negot. J. 1 (2026)

handle is hein.journals/nejo42 and id is 1 raw text is: In Theory Negotiating Peace with Pro-Government Militias?: Human Rights Violations, International Pressure, and the Case of the Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) Andrew Thomson This article theorizes when and whygovernments nego- tiate peace with pro-government militias (PGMs) or pro-state paramilitary groups. I argue that negotia- tions with PGMs are more likely to occur when PGM activities become costly and when domestic and inter- national pressure to account for PGM violence mounts on both sides. While governments support (even if tac- itly) PGMs for short-term advantages in counterinsur- gency, PGMs often pursue their own agendas and can end up harming state interests, resulting in a shift from support to curtailing PGM activity. I build this argument drawing on examples from around the world and providing initial evidence from the Colombian government's negotiated agreements with *Corresponding author: a.f.thomson@qub.ac.uk Andrew Thomson is Senior Lecturer in Peace and Conflict Studies at the School of History, Anthropology, Philosophy and Politics, Queen's University Belfast. 10.1162/NGTN.a.55 © 2026 Presidents and Fellows of Harvard College. Published under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0) license. Negotiation journal lbolunie 42 2026 1