Knowledge management in peace-building scenarios in Colombia: The special jurisdiction for peace

Abstract

The Special Jurisdiction for Peace (abbreviated JEP in Spanish) is a transitional body that was defined in the peace agreement signed between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People's Army (abbreviated FARC-EP in Spanish)-agreement that is of worldwide interest because of the historical and political incidence of peace in Colombia. The purpose of this body is to defend the rights of war victims, taking truth, justice, reparation, and non-recurrence as the fundamental aspects for peace-building. Thus, considering JEP's significance, this paper enquires about the manifestation in the JEP of processes of knowledge management (KM) that contribute and are essential to peace-building and peace stability in Colombia. The research problem presents epistemic, regulatory, and praxeological tensions in order to build the foundations of an interdisciplinary relationship between KM and related disciplines. Consequently, this study aimed to characterise JEP's processes, elements, tools, and manifestations of KM, by means of theoretical analysis and empirical evidences of the methodologies created and applied by this body for peace-building in Colombia. To this end, this critical, qualitative research used a comprehensive methodology from the social and economic sciences, focused on separating the emerging variables and tools of KM in Colombia to maintain a complex social order process, with concrete effects on the historical, political, economic, and collective memory of the Latin American population. The paper favours the understanding of JEP's social action, based on its postulates and tools, and it identifies KM-in this body's formulations and ideals and in their consequences on social transformations-as a strategic basis for the agreement. The findings of this emerging line of research on the role of KM in specific sociopolitical problem solving considerably contribute to expand the social and interdisciplinary function of KM in organisational scenarios, and the particularities of this Colombian case offer a potentially translatable model for the management of other sociopolitical issues in Latin America and the world. Furthermore, the contribution and impact of this study is to transcend the classical organisational culture of KM and insert it at the core of social transformation and stability.