Peace And Rural Development In Colombia

In Peace and Rural Development in Colombia Andrés García Trujillo investigates whether peace agreements geared toward terminating internal armed conflicts trigger rural distributive changes. Combining academic rigor with an insider’s perspective, García Trujillo shows that the peace agreement in Colombia opened an exceptional window for addressing rural inequality. Yet, despite some progress, he argues that the agreement’s leverage to stir change was severely constrained by opposing actors within and outside the government. García Trujillo later applies the framework developed for the Colombian case to explain key dynamics of other post-conflict societies that have dealt with agrarian issues under a transitional context, like El Salvador or South Africa. The original theoretical framework and empirically rich analysis make Peace and Rural Development in Colombia an indispensable read for scholars and practitioners who wish to gain an understanding on the political economy of peacemaking, policy change, and rural development in Colombia and beyond.

Based on extensive research conducted in Colombia since 2009, this book addresses the connection between land grabbing and agrarian capitalism, as well as the unfulfilled promises of peace and justice. While land remains a key resource at the core of many contemporary civil wars, the impact of high-intensity armed violence on the formation of agrarian capitalism is seldom discussed. Drawing on nearly 200 interviews, archival research, and geographical data, this book examines land grabbing and the role of violence in capital with a particular focus on one key actor in the Colombian civil war: paramilitary militias. This book demonstrates how the intricate ties between armed conflict and economy formation are obscured by the widespread belief that violence is a radical form of action, breaking with the normal course of society and disconnected from the legal economy. Under this view, dispossession is perceived as diametrically opposed to capitalist accumulation. This belief is enormously influential in precisely those bureaucratic agencies that are in charge of peacebuilding, both domestically and internationally. However, this narrow view of the relationship between armed violence and capitalism belies the close ties between plunder and lawful profit, and obscures the continuity between violent dispossession and the free market. By the same token, it legitimizes post-war inequality in the name of capitalist development. The book concludes by arguing that the promotion of radical democracy in the government of land and rural development emerges as the only reasonable path for pacifying a violent polity. The book is essential reading for students, scholars, and development aid practitioners interested in land and resource grabbing, agrarian capitalism, civil wars, and conflict resolution.

This book explores food provisioning in Colombia by examining the role and impact of the agrarian negotiations which took place in the aftermath of the 2013–2014 national strikes. Most of the research in the field of agrarian studies in Colombia has focused on inequalities in land distribution, the impacts of violent conflict, and most recently, the first phase of the peace agreement implementation. This book links and complements these literatures by critically engaging with an original framework that uncovers the conflicts and politics of food provisioning: who produces what and where, and with what socio-economic effects. This analytical lens is used to explain the re-emergence of national agrarian movements, their contestation of the dominant development narratives and their engagement in discussions about food sovereignty with the state. The analysis incorporates a wide range of voices from high-level government representatives and leaders from national agrarian movements. Their narratives of food provisioning and the broader role of the food industry are reviewed and the key findings show an underlying conflict within food provisioning based on the struggle of marginalised smallholders to develop alternative agri-food systems that can be included in the local and domestic food markets in the context of a state dominated by an export and import approach. Overall, the book argues that the battle ground of agrarian conflicts has moved to the fi eld of food provisioning and using this approach has the potential to reframe the debate about the future of food and agriculture in Colombia and beyond. This book will be of great interest to students and scholars of food and agriculture, rural development, peasant studies, and Latin American Studies.

Rural development and peacebuilding in Colombia have been highly prioritized by higher education institutions since the signing of the Peace Agreement between the National Government and the FARC-EP. This has resulted in the need to further analyze rural strategies that contribute towards a better life for the population of territories where armed conflict is coming to an end, whilst understanding the pressing uncertainty that this process implies; on the one hand, for the urgency of generating rapid and concrete responses to social justice and equity, and on the other, because fulfilling the agreement guarantees scenarios of non-repetition of the war in the country.

On 24 November 2016, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) signed a peace accord to end a six-decade war. One of the items included in the accord was the Comprehensive Rural Reform (CRR), an agreement laying out substantive measures on rural development aimed at improving land access, public goods provision and peasant's agricultural supports. This thesis explores whether negotiated transitions can serve to enact distributive rural change through an in-depth examination of the relationship between Colombia's rural development policy and the peace accord. It traces the antecedents, negotiation and early implementation of the CRR. The thesis draws from my direct involvement in the peace process as a government advisor and three years of fieldwork in Bogotá. In order to explain both the CRR's emergence and the reasons for its ambivalent effect on policy, the thesis develops a framework that weaves together insights from three strands of literature - agrarian political economy, peace implementation and institutional change. By connecting global economic trends, emerging norms, and domestic political dynamics, this framework enables an analysis that captures how the exceptional circumstances of the transition in Colombia influenced policy outcomes. The thesis argues, on one hand, that the peace agreement did open policy space for a distributive rural agenda. This policy space gained leverage due to two factors: first, favorable global and domestic norms appropriated by key decision makers during the negotiation phase; and second, the drafting of robust provisions in the peace agreement translatable into policy actions. On the other hand, the thesis shows that once the negotiation ended, the reform's scope for change was severely constrained by internal and external obstacles faced by the government. Internally, policy capture by agribusiness elites, coupled with a lack of bureaucratic coordination in the implementation and political pressures exerted by the government's coalition to move away from the CRR, effectively undermined the government's distributive agenda. Externally, a strong right-wing opposition heavily affected the legitimacy of both the government and the peace process overall.

Recent political changes in Colombia have opened up possibilities to think beyond the long-standing conflict and violence to promote a development agenda, based upon economic growth, social welfare and environmental protection. This publication contains various policy papers which seek to contribute to the national debate on options to address these development challenges. The book is intended to provide the incoming Colombian presidential administration with a comprehensive policy discussion regarding the country's development agenda.

Documents and analyzes the vast array of peace initiatives that have emerged in Colombia. This title explores how local and regional initiatives relate to national efforts and identifies possible synergies. It examines the multiple roles of civil society and the international community in the country's complex search for peace.

Annotation Global Economic Prospects and the Developing Countries 2001 discusses three issues that are central to the challenges facing developing countries as they participate in the global trading system: * Many developing countries, particularly some of the poorest ones, have had little success sharing in the expansion of global trade, because of both protectionist policies and inappropriate macroeconomic and trade policies. * In trade negotiations, the global economy faces the critical governance issue of adequate standards for health and safety, labor practices, environmental protection, and intellectual property rights. It will be equally important to ensure that the standards are appropriate and nondiscriminatory, that developing countries participate fully in their formulation, and that compliance is monitored. * The influence of technological innovations and what electronic commerce means for trade and production in developing economies. Global Economic Prospects offers an in-depth analysis of the economic prospects of developing economies as they enter the new millennium. It examines growth and prospects for poverty reduction in the developing world and considers economic output, trade, and financial developments in industrial economies. This edition also includes detailed statistical tables and an analysis of development for each developing country region.

What role does dialogue play in peacebuilding? How can community-based activities contribute to broader peace processes? What can participatory research methods add to local efforts to build peace? In this book, the authors examine these questions through their work with two different Colombian communities who have pursued dialogue amidst ongoing violence, environmental injustice and socio-economic challenges. By reflecting on what people in these contrasting places have achieved through participatory peacebuilding, the authors explore different forms of local agency, the prospects for non-extractive academic engagement, and practical and theoretical lessons for participating in peace in other conflict-affected settings.

This report from the CSIS Americas Program provides a detailed look at the challenges the Colombian government confronts as it moves from providing security to developing rural areas that were previously conflict zones. In particular, the report examines such issues as remaining security needs; land tenure; needed infrastructure improvements; and better governance. In addition, the report offers recommendations on how the Colombian government can move forward in consolidating gains in its countryside—and how the United States can help.