Collective action and Development in the Colombian South Pacific

The main purpose if this research is to analyze and interpret contemporary processes of collective action in the Colombian South Pacific and its relationship to possible Local Alternative Approaches to Conventional Development... [ view full abstract ]

The main purpose if this research is to analyze and interpret contemporary processes of collective action in the Colombian South Pacific and its relationship to possible Local Alternative Approaches to Conventional Development -ELAD (for its acronym in Spanish), in the context of Black Community Process PCN (for its acronym in Spanish), particularly in the experiences of three community councils in the region. The Colombian Pacific has been understood primarily from conventional guidelines of development, i.e. as solicitation territories ready for self-sustained economic growth. Although in recent decades new development initiatives have tried to change this dominant view, the deterioration in the living conditions of the population and the deterioration of strategic natural environments of the region show the crisis of these concerning social life in the region. It is in this context that the research assumes the study of recent collective actions of the locals in order to examine whether these processes of social mobilization are shaping Local Alternative Approaches to Conventional Development - ELAD, this, in response to life conditions of the region. From the theoretical point of view the study departs from the perspective of collective action proposed by Sidney Tarrow, and the concept of Local Alternative Approaches to Conventional Development the author constructs based on the literature reviewed in the study. These two theoretical framework are used to analyze the corpus of data collected in the research process. The study is oriented from a qualitative methodology, inspired by the world of subjective meaning. The process is structured from the review of secondary sources and the organization of group talks and interviews. Perhaps one of the central findings of the inquiry is related to the fact that at present the various processes of collective action in the Colombian South Pacific lead together to a framework of meaning that exalts the sustainability of life in the region. It is circumscribed both in contexts of restriction generated by the armed conflict and in contexts of opportunity and hope to establish the evidence of development anchored to place i.e. those forged from the intercultural, plural and collective character of the region.

Collective action, Development, Colombian South Pacific