Political Representation and Social Movements in Colombia (2002–2016)

Abstract

Since 2002, civil society organizations in Colombia have augmented their expression in different political spaces and have strategically affected public action in the process. Interaction in the state-society environment is now defined by the presence of nonpolitically aligned actors, as well as new repertories of collective action on the part of diverse social actors organized around multiple demands.

Through the lenses of institutional reengineering, we attempt to show the fore of political representation in which those forces that are not linked to traditional political parties operate, as well as outline the diverse forms of social protest that manifest themselves in different settings across Colombia. This article demonstrates the wide spectrum of social mobilizations generated by diverse actors who, in the last decade, have turned to distinct social protest strategies as pressure mechanisms, which are turning out to be more effective than the conventional channels of political representation. This is a manifestation of the weak connection between civil society and political parties that has historically surfaced in situations in which the political alternatives of representation, visibility, and recognition of non-partisan social actors are seen as a challenge to the political constitution.