Abstract
Colombia has suffered one of the longest running civil wars in the world. Despite this, for many decades, there were very few regional efforts to solve it, clearly illustrating the deep-seeded attachment to national sovereignty which is prevalent in the region and which, therefore, sees the Colombian conflict as an internal affair. Within this context, the chapter argues that the impact of the European Union (EU) on the conflict has often been limited and indirect, focusing its activities on small-scale local projects and linking the root causes of the conflict—such as land distribution and deep divisions between urban centres and the countryside—to questions of trade and commerce. As a result, EU influence has often been issue specific and local.
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Haddad, C.P., Lehmann, K. (2017). The EU, Regional Conflicts and the Promotion of Regional Cooperation: A Successful Strategy for a Global Challenge?: Colombia’s Case. In: Diez, T., Tocci, N. (eds) The EU, Promoting Regional Integration, and Conflict Resolution. Palgrave Studies in European Union Politics. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-47530-1_7
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