Title : Constructing Authority Alternatives in Colombia: Globalisation and the Transformation of Governance
Working Paper No : 40 (series 1)
Author(s) : Ann C. Mason
Date : January 2004
Abstract : The central
theme of this paper is the changing nature of authority
relationships prompted by the formation of global authority
alternatives and the concomitant erosion in the norm of
sovereign exclusivity. Specifically, what institutional
arrangements are emerging to replace or complement sovereign
authority, and with what consequences for state strength,
legitimacy, and governance? It takes up this issue by examining
alternatives to sovereign authority in Colombia, where
institutions of global and trans-national governance are
increasingly enmeshed with the state and local traditions of
non-state polities. The weakness of the Colombian state and the
associated problems of democratic breakdown, insecurity, and
violence are correlated with the persistent contestation of the
fundamental rules of social order and authority. This tradition
of a poorly consolidated central authority has been exacerbated
by global transformations which have eroded the norm of
exclusivity. Both developments have been conducive to the
construction of direct relationships between civil society and
non-state actors at many levels. Whether this transformation in
the country’s authority map will lead to a further deepening of
the current crisis, or be a force for improvement, remains an
open question.
This article starts with a review of authority and exclusivity
as conceptualized within the Westphalian model. It next
identifies how new forms of global governance, localization, and
trans-national social processes are leading to a multiplicity of
authority relationships that compete with and complement that of
the nation-state, stressing the importance of causal logics and
the practices of civil society to the construction of these
alternative relationships. A multi-scale approach is adopted
that conceives of new loci of authority as emerging above,
alongside, and below the state. The analysis continues with a
presentation of the empirical research on emerging spheres of
authority in the Colombian case, and of the global and domestic
contexts which have increasingly legitimated such non-state
polities. It concludes with an assessment of how non-exclusivity
has affected state legitimacy and the state-building project in
Colombia, and proposes lines of research related to these
issues.