THE ROLE OF INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION IN PROMOTING PEACE AND RESOLVING ARMED CONFLICT IN COLOMBIA

Margarita Maria Bautista Martinez
 PhD Candidate, University of Sao Paulo, BRAZIL, margarita.bautista@usp.br

Abstract

Since the 1960s, the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People's Army (FARC-EP) have been locked in armed conflict. This civil war has caused the deaths of thousands of soldiers, guerillas, and civilians. Public negotiations with FARC-EP were generally unsuccessful, until the opening of secret talks with the guerillas in 2011 leading to the last peace process agenda. Considering these facts, this article aims to identify practices that involve International Cooperation in the last peace process (2012-2016) that promote peace and resolving armed conflict in Colombia.

It is essential to explore the resolution of the Colombian internal armed conflict, due to its great impact on the civilian population in terms of mortality and forced displacement, as well as its high longevity in world terms, it is overcome only by the international conflicts between Israel and Palestine and India-Pakistan.
This paper will analyze the support of international organizations such as the United Nations to the negotiation tables and the peace agreement. The International Cooperation is a practice and a very broad discourse which means that cooperation can have different senses and practices, we aim to explain the factors or strategies of the foreign policy agenda that are decisive determinants to promote international cooperation and lead or not to sign peace agreements.

The article will analyze the cooperation in terms of Keohane (1984) who states that cooperation is not a harmonious political process which can have positive or negative impacts.

Keywords: Colombian armed conflict, international cooperation, peace process, negotiations, post-agreements.