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UNITED
NATIONS - / MaximsNews Network / - 21
January 2007 -- Colombia
is a paradoxical state, one of stable instability and unstable stability. The
spheres of stability and instability, equally persistent, are linked to the
country’s recent economic, social and institutional history.
The
explanation for this contradictory situation lies in the fact that functioning
democratic institutions regulate a large part of the country’s territory
while, at the same time, Colombia is the world’s largest cocaine producer and
exporter and suffers from the consequences of an armed guerrilla conflict which
has been going on for sixty years.
There are no significant external security threats, military or otherwise.
However, internal violence has seen thousands of people lose their lives and
between 1.9 million and 3 million people have been displaced in the last ten
years.
Yet in
terms of public institutions and organisations at the local level in most of its
cities, the institutional life of the country is solid. The same can be said of
its civil society and the media. The public sector in Colombia is generally
efficient and competent and some of its universities are amongst the best in the
hemisphere.
From the beginning of the current decade, local governments in places like Bogotá,
Medellín, Cali and Bucaramanga have made notable improvements in terms of
infrastructure, public transport, education, health and security. The
subordination of state forces to civil authority is firmly established and is
accepted without question. Colombia’s army does not see itself as a political
player, in spite of the de facto autonomy which it enjoyed in the past in areas
where the conflict was rife.
The judiciary has been able to strengthen its independence and effectiveness in
recent years. Colombia has pioneered the introduction of special legislation
tailored to the needs of indigenous ethnic groups within its general framework
of jurisprudence and legal practice. A whole range of civil, social and cultural
rights have been ratified, and mechanisms have been established for direct
access by ordinary citizens to ordinary justice.
In this Comment article Dirk Krujit and Kees Koonings of Utrecht University
explore the unique political and economic factors that give Colombia its firm
foundations, despite the country’s troubled reputation.
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Keywords
Colombia
Conflict Latin
America & Caribbean Political
Reform Security Terrorism
Related
publications
Bio
author: Kees Koonings
Kees
Koonings is Associate Professor of Development Studies in the Faculty of Social
Sciences, Utrecht University.
Bio
author: Dirk Krujit
Dirk
Kruijt is Professor of Development Studies in the Faculty of Social Sciences,
Utrecht University.
Labels:
Colombia,
paradoxical state,
FRIDE, Fundación
para las Relaciones Internacionales y el Diálogo Exterior,
United
Nations, U.N.,
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