Development Programs with a Territorial-based Approach in Colombia: An Agonistic multi-level Political Reconciliation Analysis

Abstract

This article analyses the Development Programs with a Territorial-based Approach in Colombia, established in Item One of the 2016 Final Agreement to End Conflict and Build Peace, from the notion of political reconciliation. It argues that, in the current complex post-agreement setting, the program can be positioned as a space for political reconciliation as long as an agonistic multi-level approach is adopted. Only through the simultaneous and comprehensive implementation of institutional, constitutional, and relational peacebuilding efforts, the recognition of both the conflictual relations among all actors and the relevance of public contestation would be possible, so as to advance in the participatory territorial planning for peace and its successful completion. The dynamics in the Catatumbo region, one of the focalized zones for the program, demonstrate the need for applying an alternative and critical perspective of political reconciliation in order to move towards a sustainable and long-lasting peace in Colombia based on the interconnection between peace, reconciliation, and development.