Community Participation, Governance and Governability. Experiences of Peace Building in the Department of Cauca, Colombia, and its Contribution to the Post- Conflict. The Case of the Corregimiento of Lerma

Abstract

The recognition and analysis of experiences related to community participation, and the construction of peace from the territories allow to consolidate new planning models based on local development, democratic governability and the possibility of overcoming the Colombian conflict. For this purpose, the authors use the approach of «territorial governance», which, in addition to showing the conditions of governability in a given context, helps to understand the interaction of interests and actors in relation to conflict resolution and spaces of coexistence. The experience of community participation in the corregimiento of Lerma (Cauca) puts forward a political model for decision making and local development where the government is not the only actor involved, since it is articulated to different actors of the region, their repertoires and their territory. On the one hand, the reconstruction of this type of dynamics provides better elements of analysis for the various social and political actors involved in discussing the materialization of the «post-conflict». On the other hand, it provides tools for debating and confronting notions and «classical» theoretical elements around governability and governance.