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Articles

Vol. 44 No. 2 (2024)

Colombia 2023: The Challenges of Social Transformation and “Total Peace”

DOI
https://doi.org/10.4067/s0718-090x2024005000112
Submitted
July 29, 2024
Published
2024-09-30

Abstract

The beginning of 2023 was marked by large expectactations regarding the materialization of the social transformation proposed by President Gustavo Petro. As the year progressed, the breakdown of the legislative coalition, and technical challenges, complicated the implementation of reforms. This article provides a brief overview of the reforms and the tensions framing them. It then focuses on the policy known as “Total Peace”, that proposes a transversal view of economic and social transformations as the key to a sustainable peace, and that proposes peace accords and dialogues with diverse armed groups, including those lacking clear political agendas, and motivated by economic incentives. The article describes the content and evolution of the policy to then argue that three factors are key to understand the evolution of simultaneous negotiations with armed groups: 2) the difficulties of distinguishing the criminal or political nature of these groups, 1) the fragmentation of armed groups and 3) the need to coordinate a complex and fragmented state in the implementation of these processes.

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