Abstract, Economic Extractivism and Agrarian Social Movements: Perspectives on Low-Intensity Democracy in the Face of the Colombian Conflict

:::::: Abstract ::::::

Economic Extractivism and Agrarian Social Movements: Perspectives on Low-Intensity Democracy in the Face of the Colombian Conflict
by Leila Celis

During the mid-1980s, Colombia joined the neoliberal global economy in two ways: (1) by implementing a “low-intensity democracy” made up of reforms intended to institutionalize the social protests as a response to the crisis of governance and to promote investor security and (2) by exchanging a protectionist industrialization economic model for an extractivist neoliberal one. The new progressive legislation created inclusive institutions and recognized multiculturalism and social and political rights, but these very rights are denied by the neoliberal economy, which favors big transnational capital and the physical and legal coercion that this model requires. These two pivotal elements of neoliberalism (governance and the economy) are pragmatically incompatible. The dominant class has favored the interests of powerful transnational elites and employed both legal and military avenues. Consequently, 30 years later, the social movements have been only partially and temporarily institutionalized. Active rejection of the economic model is growing. Social organizations have appropriated the concept of human rights and adapted it to their social project, the construction of a peasant economy that opposes the neoliberal one.

Introduction, Democracy, Repression, and the Defense of Human Rights

:::::: Intro ::::::

Democracy, Repression, and the Defense of Human Rights
by William Avilés and Leila Celis                                    


In the 1990s Barry Gills, Joel Rocamora, and Richard Wilson (1993) directly challenged the democratic-transitions literature through critical assessments of the relatively young democracies in Latin America and the developing world. They introduced the model of “low-intensity democracy” as a more precise classification of the limits of democratic change in the developing world after the cold war. A low-intensity democracy is a largely procedural democracy that allows political opposition, greater individual freedoms, a reduced institutional role for the armed forces, and a more permeable environment for the investments of transnational capital. Greatly expanding on this idea, William Robinson (1996) posited that, given the instability that authoritarian regimes of the past had engendered in the populace, these elite democracies were essential to the global integration of these economies. Democratization movements seeking radical change beyond formal electoral competition were pushed aside by the more conservative leaders of antiauthoritarian movements. These leaders were financed and advised by U.S. foreign policy makers, who presented them as paragons of democracy in an emerging global capitalist age. They represented economic and political factions pursuing the integration of their respective economies into capitalist globalization and fully prepared to turn to state and para-state repression of groups that challenged the state outside of the formal democratic institutions.

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Democracy, Repression, and the Defense of Human Rights 

by William Avilés and Leila Celis

Tomas Ocampo, Outreach Coordinator for Latin American Perspectives, interviews issue editors William Avilés and Leila Celis on: Democracy, Repression, and the Defense of Human Rights published in September 2017.

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Abstract, "The Legacy of Liberation Theology in Colombia: The Defense of Life and Territory" by Leila Celis

:::::: Abstract ::::::

The Legacy of Liberation Theology in Colombia: The Defense of Life and Territory 
by Leila Celis

Liberation theology was very important in Latin America between 1970 and 1980. While it is less significant today, it has not disappeared. If we look at Colombia, we can see the pastoral and political commitment of the religious and the laity in various regions as they accompany marginalized communities, victims of government and parastatal violence, in conformity with their preferential option for the poor. Motivated by the crucified Christ, the heirs of liberation theology have developed a theology of life or of human rights. As human rights advocates, they identify among the causes of violence the policies of capitalist development, denounced as imperialist and responsible for the poverty of the majority of the population. This development has its origin in the parallel dynamics of social and international relations and the associated adaptation of the social movement.

Abstract, "The Legacy of Liberation Theology in Colombia: The Defense of Life and Territory" by Leila Celis

:::::: Abstract ::::::

The Legacy of Liberation Theology in Colombia: The Defense of Life and Territory 
by Leila Celis

Liberation theology was very important in Latin America between 1970 and 1980. While it is less significant today, it has not disappeared. If we look at Colombia, we can see the pastoral and political commitment of the religious and the laity in various regions as they accompany marginalized communities, victims of government and parastatal violence, in conformity with their preferential option for the poor. Motivated by the crucified Christ, the heirs of liberation theology have developed a theology of life or of human rights. As human rights advocates, they identify among the causes of violence the policies of capitalist development, denounced as imperialist and responsible for the poverty of the majority of the population. This development has its origin in the parallel dynamics of social and international relations and the associated adaptation of the social movement.

Abstract, "The Legacy of Liberation Theology in Colombia: The Defense of Life and Territory" by Leila Celis

:::::: Abstract ::::::

The Legacy of Liberation Theology in Colombia: The Defense of Life and Territory 
by Leila Celis

Liberation theology was very important in Latin America between 1970 and 1980. While it is less significant today, it has not disappeared. If we look at Colombia, we can see the pastoral and political commitment of the religious and the laity in various regions as they accompany marginalized communities, victims of government and parastatal violence, in conformity with their preferential option for the poor. Motivated by the crucified Christ, the heirs of liberation theology have developed a theology of life or of human rights. As human rights advocates, they identify among the causes of violence the policies of capitalist development, denounced as imperialist and responsible for the poverty of the majority of the population. This development has its origin in the parallel dynamics of social and international relations and the associated adaptation of the social movement.