"El funcionario viene a ser como una personificación del Estado". Conflictos y límites de la autoridad en el centro occidente colombiano, 1850-1925

Abstract

This article aims at studying the difficulties in the authority establishment in Manizales and departamento de Caldas. Through the analysis of trial investigation in first and second instance, in cases of authority abuse and resistance to it, difficulties faced by officers in charge of maintaining the police order are shown. In addition, the abuse of these officers is evident, as characteristic that could delegitimize the official actions. It is argued that the studied conflicts were part of the state deployment in the Colombian center west. There the recent foundation of most towns, the geographical distances, the resources scarcity and the near local bureaucracy with those subject to surveillance, made of this a complex but dynamic process.