Territorial Peace Without Territorial Governments: The Centralising Logic of the 2016 Colombian Peace Accord

Abstract

Colombia’s 2016 peace accord emphasises the concept of “territorial peace” but denies meaningful roles for territorial governments—a design decision that is especially puzzling given the recent prominence of local governments in peacebuilding initiatives around the world. This article argues that the pursuit of territorial peace without territorial governments can only be understood by broadening the temporal frame in ways that problematise the evolution of these governments over time. Decentralising reforms were at the heart of an earlier failed effort to end Colombia’s armed conflict in the 1980s and 1990s, leading both sides in the 2016 accord to draw different, but similarly negative, lessons about decentralisation. Guerrilla and government negotiators alike eschewed local governments but not for the reasons emphasised in the peacebuilding literature. Furthermore, Colombia’s earlier experience with decentralisation also exposed serious capacity deficits at the local level, raising questions about territorial governments as viable partners in building peace.