Colombian Democracy Essay - 5929 Words

Colombian Democracy There is a practical problem to capturing a cogent understanding of Colombia in a single snapshot. There are two realities of Colombia scholars use to frame analysis of the birthplace of Gabriel Garcia Marquez’s magical realism: â€Å"armed conflict† and â€Å"political democracy.† These phenomena are a defining feature of modern Colombia. They have coexisted since 1958 when the National Front political pact ended intra-elite conflict in La Violencia but failed to guarantee a stable social order. In a sense, Colombian society was never successfully â€Å"pacified† in the way its neighboring nations were. The question of whether and how these two realities will be linked in the future is what stimulates my interest in this Andean†¦show more content†¦These theories are perhaps always true according to their own criteria but whether they advance understanding of an issue—let alone opened up new possibilities for interpreting it—is a se parate question. Let me be more concrete about my critique. Security-specific and most democratization studies interventions on Colombia trouble me because they detach their respective complementary realities. As a result, they produce unsatisfactory substantive accounts. Naturally, security wonks and democratization studies scholars proceed differently in presenting their views of Colombia. But in reviewing the scholarship of influential works on Colombia such as Jonathan Hartlyn’s, The politics of coalition rule in Colombia (1988 and an update, 1999), John D. Martz’s, The Politics of Clientelism (1995), Laurence Whitehead’s, â€Å"Reforms† (2001), Fernando Cepeda Ulloa’s, â€Å"Colombia: The Governability Crisis,† (2003), Nazih Richani’s, Systems of Violence: The Political Economy of War and Peace in Colombia (2002), and Ricardo Vargas’s, â€Å"State, Espirit Mafioso, and Armed Conflict in Colombia,† (2004), I find a blank middle space between security and democracy approaches that renders either narrative inadequate. This void needs filling in to make intelligible the contradictions mediating the juxtaposed realities of Colombia. Social movement scholars creatively address this deficit from the micro level. I follow scholars such as Daniel Pecaut (1992, 2001,Show MoreRelatedImpact Of Globalization On The World1229 Words   |  5 Pagesduring that decade than in the previous three combined. Economic globalization has largely eliminated the benefits of territorial acquisition, while the destructiveness of modern warfare has increased its costs. 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However, this linguistic emphasis has not contributed as expected for the consolidation of an awareness on the helpfulness of the learning of the English language in communities affected by problematic social phenomenonRead MoreBric Analysis Essay11111 Words   |  45 Pagesembrace familiar ‘‘Northern’’ preferences: liberal, and mixed-capitalist, democracy. Polity (2010) 42, 14–37. doi:10.1057/pol.2009.15; published online 7 December 2009 Keywords BRICs; Brazil; global governance; democracy; power transition; emerging powers Leslie Elliott Armijo is a visiting scholar at the Mark O. Hatfield School of Government, Portland State University. The editor of Financial Globalization and Democracy in Emerging Markets (1999), Debating the Global Financial Architecture (2002)Read MoreThe United States and Colombia1578 Words   |  6 PagesColombia have had a long standing relationship through the course of history. There have been trade agreements signed by the two parties; also negotiations have taken part in regard to development strategies on the part of the US to promote the rule of Democracy and it’s institutions in Colombia, where illegal armed forces sought to control many aspects of the country’s development. Aside from trade agreements the United States and Columbia have also had agreements related to the protection of the environmentRead MoreThe Ongoing Colombian Conflict1583 Words   |  6 PagesCOLOMBIAN CONFLICT Introduction: The Colombian Conflict is a long drawn out, ongoing low-intensity intrastate war between the Colombian goverment, paramilitary troops, crime syndicates and left-wing guerrillas such as the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) and the National Liberation Army (ELN), with the Colombian goverment and the paramilitary troops combatting against the guerrillas. Its origins can be traced back to 1964. 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However, the reality is that it is a party with an ideological divergence with different ideological sectors as the conservative center-right, through the center, classical liberalism, social liberalism, social democracy, trade union, labor, progressive and left sectors. These sectors can be dominant according to the historical moment, for example, conservative Democrats, almost all Southerners. Currentl y, the American population associates democrats as liberals