From Hope to Uncertainty to Lessons Learned: Colombia’s Peace Agreement 10 Years After

Abstract

To Fr. Javier Giraldo (1944-2026), a tireless human rights defender and champion of peace and social justice in Colombia. His lessons inspired many generations of social activists and human rights defenders. His memory will surely inspire many more to keep working, against all odds, for a Colombia with rights, peace, freedom, social justice, inclusion and equity. Ten years after the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the FARC-EP, described by some commentators as the climax of liberal peacebuilding (despite some key shortcomings from a liberal perspective), time has come for a more sober appraisal of its many strengths, but also on its significant weaknesses. This introduction situates the peace agreement in a long history of conflict resolution, peacebuilding and transitional justice initiatives in Colombia, and sets the scene for the special issue’s contributions. This special issue brings together a diverse team of scholars who have worked over the years on various aspects of the peace agreement and the conflict in Colombia. They contribute their insights on a wide range of issues that we have clustered in four big areas: implementation of the peace agreement, rural and urban dynamics of the conflict, transitions within the peace agreement, and changing patterns of conflict after the agreement. We conclude with lessons learned for peacebuilding and conflict studies: on the problem of providing continuity to long-term peacebuilding policies in electoral democracies; on the need to agree on the depth, scale and main elements of change; and finally, on the politics of peacebuilding and why structural change still matters.