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Working Paper No.40
Constructing Authority Alternatives in Colombia: Globalisation and the Transformation of Governance
Ann C. Mason
Universidad de los Andes
January 2004
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 transnational governance are increasingly enmeshed with the state
and local traditions of nonstate 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 transnational 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.
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