|
|
From the Alliance for Progress to the Plan Colombia
A retrospective look at USAID and the Colombian conflict
Luis Eduardo Fajardo (historian/economist),
Universidad del Rosario
This project seeks to present an historical perspective on US financial assistance
to the government of Colombia. The premise of the study is that previous
attempts at stabilising beleaguered Colombian state institutions through large
foreign aid packages left largely unsatisfactory results. One of the reasons behind
this failure was the changing internal political environment in the US, and the
impact this had on US commitment to large-scale aid flows to Colombia.
Specifically, this study will focus on the Alliance for Progress initiative of
the 1960s, a case study that reveals many of the shortfalls of a
counter-insurgency strategy based primarily on the promise of large-scale US
aid. In particular, it will try to explore the political reasons that
determined US commitment (or lack of commitment) to maintaining economic aid to
Colombia in the 1960s. It will identify the political processes that eventually
led US policymakers to abandon the initiative in the late 1960s with many of
its goals unattained. The project will also attempt a preliminary comparative
study in order to evaluate differences and similarities between the Alliance
for Progress and the present-day "Plan Colombia", which is seeing renewed US
involvement with Colombia. This should yield elements that will contribute to
assess the feasibility of Plan Colombia as a strategy for institutional
strengthening.
Outputs from this project:
Working Paper No.28 (April 2003)
From the Alliance for Progress to the Plan Colombia
(Luis Eduardo Fajardo)
Download in English
Related themes:
Political & Social impact of liberalisation
State capacity to manage conflict
Related publications:
Luis Fajarado,
'The Andean Regional Initiative (an examination of US aid to Andean countries)', in South America, Central America and the Caribbean 2004, London: Taylor & Francis, 2003
Luis Fajarado,
'La Corrupci�n Heredada: pasado colonial, sistema legal y desarrollo econ�mico en Colombia', Revista de Estudios Sociales, 12 (June 2002), pp.20-29
|
