Sharing community life after a civil war: intergroup contact and social distance

Research shows that person-to-person contact is associated with a reduction in the levels of social distance between otherwise divided groups. In this study, we explore whether this association holds in immediate post-civil war contexts when the reconstruction of social links is challenging. Using original data from 1228 face-to-face surveys collected in Colombian municipalities where former FARC-EP guerrilla fighters have been reintegrated since 2017, we explore how socially distant civilians perceive the ex-combatants. Our statistical results suggest that contact is associated with a reduction in intergroup social distance, despite the length of the armed conflict and the fact that the municipalities for collective reintegration processes were selected without prior consultation. Using an in-depth case study, we identify three key intergroup cooperation forms that seem to have facilitated this reduction. Our results have relevant policy implications for conflict and post-conflict settings.