Clientelismo político ¿Desviación de la política o forma de representación? Estado del arte sobre las aproximaciones al clientelismo en Colombia 1972-2012

La capacidad de adaptación del clientelismo político a los cambios institucionales obliga a revisar las reformas más significativas al régimen político colombiano de los últimos lustros. El presente estado del arte se aproxima al clientelismo político en Colombia desde 1972 hasta 2012. Su objetivo es identificar rupturas y continuidades en el abordaje del fenómeno, a partir de enfoques, juicios y problemáticas resaltadas en los estudios. La hipótesis de trabajo identificó dos aproximaciones al clientelismo: la primera lo considera como una desviación de la política y amenaza al funcionamiento democrático; mientras que la segunda, lo aborda como característica funcional del sistema, forma de participación y representación política e, incluso, modo de distribución de lo público en un colectivo. El ejercicio realizado configuró un corpus de 74 fuentes académicas y la metodología de trabajo consistió en la construcción de una matriz metodológica y la elaboración de 300 fichas bibliográficas, el método predilecto fue análisis de contenido e historia de las ideas.

The voters of Colombia are free?

A fundamental principle of democracy is citizenship freedom. We suggest that a fair electoral contest is possible if a relationship between free will, electoral preferences and respect to the public institutions (constitutionalism) (section 1) exists. We focus on three illiberal practices that perturb the voter's decision: political clientelism and political markets (sections 2 to 4), media influence (which feeds on the voter's limited rationality and limited information) (section 5), and the suppression of opposition options (section 6). Later (section 8), we provide a brief balance and, additionally, we show how in Colombia the political system has missed opportunities to expand the voters' freedom. Our interpretation of the electoral process in Colombia is an appeal, supported on theoretical arguments and empirical evidence, to doubt about the voters' freedom. Also we make a call for more etudies.

Natural disasters and clientelism: the case of floods and landslides in Colombia

What are the effects of natural disasters on electoral results? Some authors claim that catastrophes have a negative effect on the survival of leaders in a democracy because voters have a propensity to punish politicians for not preventing or poorly handling a crisis. In contrast, this paper finds that these events might be beneficial for leaders. Disasters are linked to leader survival through clientelism: they generate an in-flow of resources in the form of aid, which increase money for buying votes. Analyzing the rainy season of 2010-2011 in Colombia, considered its worst disaster in history, I use a difference-in-differences strategy to show that in the local election incumbent parties benefited from the disaster. The result is robust to different specifications and alternative explanations. Moreover, places receiving more aid and those with judicial evidence of vote-buying irregularities, are more likely to reelect the incumbent, supporting the mechanism proposed by this paper.

Reconciliation as a Political Concept: Some Observations and Remarks

This paper summarizes a number of observations and reflections on the phenomenon and practice called “reconciliation”, in connection to peace processes and peace-building initiatives. In particular it draws from processes followed by the author, in East Timor in particular, but also in Europe, the Middle East and, more recently, Colombia. It is a discussion paper. The purpose is to invite to reflection, both on the level of perspectives as well as concepts. It is developed from a lecture called “The Challenge of Reconciliation” held at Universidad Nacional, Bogotá, in December 2003. Following substantial revision since then (making the text more than double in length) I realize that today not many parts of the original text are still recognizable from that presentation, then organized by the Embassy of Sweden in Colombia, as part of its commitment to the peace process in that country. I have accepted the invitation of the Center of Political and International Studies (Centro de Estudios Políticos e Internacionales, CEPI), at Universidad del Rosario, to publish this work in progress, to reach a broader public in Colombia and contribute to the discussion on econciliation. The field of “political reconciliation” is evolving, definitions of reconciliation are abounding, and different contributors have different takes on the subject matter, quite naturally. It is the author’s view, that reconciliation can and should not be “held captive” of any particular field of study. It relates to fundamental, some would call it existential, issues of meaning, trust, contradictions, and suffering in the midst of a violent, political reality. It is wise to tread softly on ground with such a complex bottom.

The Bogota – sabana region : the political economy behind the struggle to implement a sustainable urban development model

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Self-organized sociopolitical interactions as the best way to achieve organized patterns in human social systems: going beyond the top-down control of classical political regimes

La monografía presenta la auto-organización sociopolítica como la mejor manera de lograr patrones organizados en los sistemas sociales humanos, dada su naturaleza compleja y la imposibilidad de las tareas computacionales de los regímenes políticos clásico, debido a que operan con control jerárquico, el cual ha demostrado no ser óptimo en la producción de orden en los sistemas sociales humanos. En la monografía se extrapola la teoría de la auto-organización en los sistemas biológicos a las dinámicas sociopolíticas humanas, buscando maneras óptimas de organizarlas, y se afirma que redes complejas anárquicas son la estructura emergente de la auto-organización sociopolítica.

Transformación de la ocupación del suelo en el marco de relaciones de clientelismo político. Estudio de caso: barrio Pablo Escobar, 1982-1995

El interés de este estudio de caso es evidenciar la relación que existe entre el clientelismo y las transformaciones de uso del suelo en el barrio Pablo Escobar en Medellín, entre 1982 y 1995. Se analiza como la marginación de la población del barrio Moravia conduce a la creación de capital social y el fortalecimiento de las redes sociales existentes dentro del mismo. Se muestra además cómo estas redes son aprovechadas por Pablo Escobar en su carrera política para aumentar su capital político. Por último, se muestra cómo su programa de Medellín sin Tugurios cambia el comportamiento y el uso de suelo de la población de los tugurios de Moravia, ahora reubicada en el barrio Pablo Escobar.

The moral background of the political philosophers –The Nozick case–

 On the assumption that any complex Modern Political Theory involves a decision about human rights, this article considers a possible assessment of the broader aspects of the conception of the State in the work of Nozick. Based on one critical point of view originally formulated by H.L.A. Hart, it defends the claim that the libertarian conception is untenable in moral terms. 

Legal, political and economic aspects of the tragedy in rural Colombia in recent decades: hypothesis for analysis

Editorial

The institutional environment and its influence on political options to Protect Winnipeg’s Female garments Workers against the impact of globalization

The principal objective of this paper is to identify the relationship between the re­sults of the Canadian policies implemented to protect female workers against the impact of globalization on the garment industry and the institutional setting in which this labour market is immersed in Winnipeg. This research paper begins with a brief summary of the institutional theory appro­ach that sheds light on the analysis of the effects of institutions on the policy options to protect female workers of the Winnipeg garment industry. Next, this paper identi­fies the set of beliefs, formal procedures, routines, norms and conventions that cha­racterize the institutional environment of the female workers of Winnipeg’s garment industry. Subsequently, this paper descri­bes the impact of free trade policies on the garment industry of Winnipeg. Afterward, this paper presents an analysis of the ba­rriers that the institutional features of the garment sector in Winnipeg can set to the successful achievement of policy options addressed to protect the female workforce of this sector. Three policy options are considered: ethical purchasing; training/retraining programs and social engage­ment support for garment workers; and protection of migrated workers through promoting and facilitating bonds between Canada’s trade unions and trade unions of the labour sending countries. Finally, this paper concludes that the formation of isolated cultural groups inside of factories; the belief that there is gender and race discrimination on the part of the garment industry management against workers; the powerless social conditions of immi­grant women; the economic rationality of garment factories’ managers; and the lack of political will on the part of Canada and the labour sending countries to set effective bilateral agreements to protect migrate wor­kers, are the principal barriers that divide the actors involved in the garment industry in Winnipeg. This division among the prin­cipal actors of Winnipeg’s garment industry impedes the change toward more efficient institutions and, hence, the successful achievement of policy options addressed to protect women workers. 

Political Reform: unfinished business in Brazil after Lula?

A year away from leaving the presidency, this article analyses Lula government in light of the many corruption scandals that erupted afterwards. These events showed that despite the almost unanimous conclusion of its balance sheet, Lula government leaves a big task ahead: the political reform. Priority of the Workers’ Party during the years 1980 and 1990, and subject of many academic studies, this issue has been abandoned in the 2000s, with the accession to power of Lula Da Silva. This paper evaluates the state-of-the-art on this matter and defends the need for further consideration in light of current events, and in a broader theoretical perspective than the institutional engineering one that prevailed earlier. 

The Proliferation of Paramilitary Groups in Southern Mexico: State Strategy or Struggle between Local Political Elites?

This study traces the origins of Mexican paramilitary groups and argues that, contrary to what most of the literature on the subject implies, they do not represent a state strategy to thwart leftist groups seeking social change. Rather, they represent battles between groups of national and local-level elites with different visions of democracy and of what constitutes good governance. The polarization inherent in this type of conflict leads local actors to have to side with one faction of elites or the other. The presence of radical leftist groups in recently colonized indigenous areas with scant state presence gives rise to a process of radicalization among local elites. There are multiple factors that explain the emergence of paramilitary groups. Aside from the post Cold War international context, there were national factors like a shift in its focus away from security matters between 1989 and 1993, and presidential policies between 1968 and 1993, that planted the seeds of leftist radicalism in a context of id modernization

Crisis of political representation and democratization in Mexico: the generality and specificity of the case

This article attempts to assess the implications and the own character of the crisis of representation in Mexico. Once the topic framed and the long-term dynamics of Mexican political elites presented, this paper will attempt to understand why, despite the pluralization of the party system, there remain many questions about the truly democratic nature of the Mexican political system.

Political intervention in economic activity

This paper proposes a political economy explanation of bailouts to declining industries. A model of probabilistic voting is developed, in which two candidates compete for the vote of two groups of the society through tactical redistribution. We allow politicians to have core support groups they understand better, this implies politicians are more or less effective to deliver favors to some groups. This setting is suited to reproduce pork barrels or machine politics and patronage. We use this model to illustrate the case of an economy with both an efficient industry and a declining one, in which workers elect their government. We present the conditions under which the political process ends up with the lagged-behind industry being allowed to survive.

Bilateral Transport Cost, Infrastructure, Common Bilateral Ties and Political Stability.

Los costos de transporte son una de las más importantes fuentes de barreras al comercio. Inspirados por este aspecto, utilizamos un modelo empírico ad-hoc con el fin de examinar los posibles determinantes de los costos de transporte. Utilizando una base de datos de costos de transporte bilaterales para el año 1990, replicamos el trabajo de Limao y Venables (2001) y encontramos que el efecto de su ´índice de infraestructura sobre los costos de transporte no es robusto. Siguiendo a Micco (2004) y Micco y Serebrinzky (2005) calculamos dos ´índices alternativos de infraestructura. Utilizando estos ´índices encontramos que aparte de la distancia, la infraestructura, la estabilidad política, las relaciones bilaterales comunes y los acuerdos de cielos abiertos son otros importantes canales mediante los cuales los costos de transporte pueden reducirse.