Institutional dilemmas and challenges in the territorial construction of peace

Abstract

Implementation of the peace accords signed by the Colombian government and the leadership of FARC-EP will have strong institutional constraints. The central dilemma of the integration of post-conflict territories to the nation is the following: Will the State be taken to the provinces, or will the State be built from below, through strong social participation and a lasting local institutional creation? Although the agreements signed are part of the centralist tradition of building the national State from the top, they also provide space for significant reforms that would deepen the decentralisation process. To contribute to the public debate on the "territorial and differentiated construction" of peace, this essay reflects on how to operate in the 170 municipalities prioritised for intervention and proposes a series of institutional reforms not foreseen in the agreements, which would facilitate territorial State-building.