Working Paper No.56
Business-led Peacebuilding in Colombia: Fad or Future of a
Country in Crisis?
Angelika Rettberg
Universidad de los Andes
December 2004
This paper argues that the emphasis on the private sector’s contribution
to fuelling armed conflict has neglected our understanding of business
motivations operating in the opposite direction: building peace. Based on four
cases of local business-led peacebuilding in Colombia, this paper concludes that
these represent innovative and quite pragmatic solutions to the specific needs
of companies faced with conflict. The paper suggests that factors explaining
business-led peacebuilding include variables related to context (conflict costs;
economic recession; and state absence) as well as to company-specific traits
(nature of assets, size, and sectoral profiles; institutional trajectories; and
the ability to free ride). The findings point to the importance of self-interest
as an explanation of business-led peacebuilding and offer insights for scholars
and policymakers interested in promoting private sector participation in
overcoming crisis.
Other crisis states papers by Angelika Rettberg:
Angelika Rettberg, 'Business-led peace building in Colombia: fad or future of a country in crisis?', final report from the Crisis States project
Building peace locally: business-led peace initiatives in Colombia
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