COLOMBIA: THE POLITICS OF REFORMING THE STATE INSTITUTE OF LATIN AMERICAN STUDIES SERIES General Editor: Victor Bulmer-Thomas, Professor of Economics and Director, Institute of Latin American Studies, University of London The Institute of Latin American Studies, a member of the School of Advanced Study of the University of London, was founded in 1965. The Institute is dedicated to research on Latin America in the social sciences and humanities. The purpose of this series is to disseminate to a wide audience the new work based on the research programmes and projects organised by academic staff and Associate Fellows of the Institute of Latin American Studies. Victor Bulmer-Thomas (editor) THE NEW ECONOMIC MODEL IN LATIN AMERICA AND ITS IMPACT ON INCOME DISTRIBUTION AND POVERTY Victor Bulmer-Thomas, Nikki Craske and Monica Serrano (editors) MEXICO AND THE NORTH AMERICAN FREE TRADE AGREEMENT: WHO WILL BENEFIT? Elizabeth Joyce and Carlos Malamud (editors) LATIN AMERICA AND THE MULTINATIONAL DRUG TRADE Walter Little and Eduardo Posada-CarbO (editors) POLITICAL CORRUPTION IN EUROPE AND LATIN AMERICA Eduardo Posada-Carbo (editor) COLOMBIA: THE POLITICS OF REFORMING THE STATE ELECTIONS BEFORE DEMOCRACY: THE HISTORY OF ELECTIONS IN EUROPE AND LATIN AMERICA Rachel Sieder (editor) CENTRAL AMERICA: FRAGILE TRANSITION John Weeks (editor) STRUCTURAL ADJUSTMENT AND THE AGRICULTURAL SECTOR IN LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN Colombia The Politics of Reforming the State Edited by Eduardo Posada-Carb6 Senior Lecturer in Latin American History Institute of Latin American Studies University of London ~ in association with ~ PALGRAVE MACMILLAN First published in Great Britain 1998 by MACMILLAN PRESS LTD Houndmills, Basingstoke, Hampshire RG21 6XS and London Companies and representatives throughout the world A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library. ISBN 978-1-349-26052-2 ISBN 978-1-349-26050-8 (eBook) DOI 10.1007/978-1-349-26050-8 First published in the United States of America 1998 by ST. MARTIN'S PRESS, INC., Scholarly and Reference Division, 175 Fifth Avenue, New York, N.Y. 10010 ISBN 978-0-312-17618-1 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Colombia: the politics of reforming the state / edited by Eduardo Posada-Carbo. p. cm. - (Institute of Latin American Studies series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-312-17618-1 I. Colombia-Politics and govemment-1974-- I. Posada Carbo, Eduardo. II. Series. JL2831.C664 1997 320.9861 '09'045-dc2 I 97-19441 CIP © Institute of Latin American Studies 1998 Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1s t edition 1998 All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication may be made without written permission. No paragraph of this publication may be reproduced, copied or transmitted save with written permission or in accordance with the provisions of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, or under the terms of any licence permitting limited copying issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency, 90 Tottenham Court Road, London WI P 9HE. Any person who does any unauthorised act in relation to this publication may be liable to criminal prosecution and civil claims for damages. The authors have asserted their rights to be identified as the authors of this work in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. This book is printed on paper suitable for recycling and made from fully managed and sustained forest sources. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 07 06 05 04 03 02 01 00 99 CONTENTS Acknowledgements vii List of Contributors viii List of Figures x List of Tables xi Prologue Belisario Betancur xiii Introduction Reflections on the Colombian State: In Search of a Modern Role Eduardo Posada-Carb6 1 Part I: THE COLOMBIAN STATE: HISTORY, PARTIES AND CONSTITUTIONAL REFORM 19 Chapter I Colombian Experience with Liberalism: On the Historical Weakness of the State Marco Palacios 21 Chapter 2 The State and Political Parties in Colombia Gary Hoskin 45 Chapter 3 Democracy, State and Society in the t 99 t Constitution: The Role of the Constitutional Court Manuel Jose Cepeda 71 Chapter 4 The Decentralised State: An Administrative or Political Challenge? Gustavo Bell Lemus 97 Part II: THE STATE AND SOCIETY 109 Chapter 5 Violence and the State in Colombia Alvaro Tirado Mejia 111 Chapter 6 State Weakness and Clientelism in Colombian Education Jesus Duarte 125 Chapter 7 Colombian Housing Policy during the 1990s Alan Gilbert 155 v Part III: THE STATE AND THE ECONOMIC APERTURA 185 Chapter 8 The Colombian Apertura: An Assessment Jorge Ramirez Ocampo 187 Chapter 9 Regulation and Deregulation: The Process of Reform in Colombia, 1990-94 Armando Montenegro 207 Chapter 10 Evolution and Rationality of Budget Institutions in Colombia Rudolf Hommes 233 Bibliography 263 Index 277 vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This book is the first of a series of publications resulting from the Co lombia Programme that the Institute of Latin American Studies launched in 1995. The chapters in this volume were first discussed dur ing the conference 'The Colombian Process of Reform: A New Role for the State?', which took place in London on 24-25 April 1995. I would like to thank the following institutions for the support given to this event: the Banco de la Republica, the Baring Foundation, the Brit ish Council, British Petroleum, Canning House, the Colombian Embassy in London, and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office. Thanks to the support of the Isobel Thornley Bequest Fund we were able to translate one of the chapters of the book. Finally, I would also like to acknowledge the editorial support given by Victor Bulmer-Thomas, Tony Bell, and Penny and Peter Simmons in the preparation of the final text. Eduardo Posada-Carbo ILAS, London. vii LIST OF CONTRIBUTORS Gustavo Bell Lemus was the first popularly elected Governor of the Depart ment of Atl!'mtico (1990-1993). He is the author of Cartagena de lndias: de la Colonia a la Republica (1991). He is currently completing his DPhii at St Antony's College, Oxford. Belisario Betancur was President of the Republic of Colombia between 1982 and 1986. Before being elected President he had a long and distinguished pub lic career. He is the author of many books and essays. He is currently the Director of Fundaci6n Santillana para la America Latina. Manuel Jose Cepeda was adviser to President Cesar Gaviria on constitutional affairs. He was Ambassador to Switzerland and the United Kingdom, and to Unesco in Paris; he is currently the Dean of the Law Faculty at the Universidad de los Andes. He has published extensively on Colombian con stitutional law, including Los derechos /undamentales de la Constitucion de 1991 (1992), and 1ntroduccion a la Constitucion de 1991, hacia un nuevo constitucionalismo (1993). Jesus Duarte completed his DPhii at St Antony's College, Oxford with a the sis on education and clientelism in Colombia. He is the author of various essays on Colombian education, including a chapter in M. Deas and C. Ossa (eds.), EI gobierno Barco. Politica, economia y desarrollo social, 1986-1990 (1994). He is currently an officer at the Departamento Nacional de Planeaci6n. Alan Gilbert is Professor of Geography at University College London. He has published extensively on Latin American urban problems, including The Latin American City (1994), In Search o/a Home (1993) and, with P. M. Ward, Housing, the State and the Poor: Policy in Three Latin American Cities ( 1985). Rudolf Hommes was Minister of Finance during the whole period of Cesar Gaviria's administration. As a co-founder of the journal Estrategia, he led a group of economists who became instrumental in the process of reform in Co lombia. After the ministry he joined the Inter-American Development Bank. He is currently the Rector of the Universidad de los Andes in Bogota. He is the author of various essays on the Colombian economy. Gary Hoskin is Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York (SUNY) in Buffalo, USA. He has published extensively on Colombian party politics, including essays in M. Deas and C. Ossa (eds.), EI gobierno Barco (1994) and F. Leal Buitrago and L. Zamosc (eds.), Alfilo del caos (1995). He is the co-editor of EI Congreso colombiano (1974). viii Armando Montenegro was Director of the Departamento Nacional de Planeaci6n during the whole period of Cesar Gaviria's administration. He had previously advised the government on coffee affairs and on the monetary board. He is currently President of the Asociaci6n Nacional de Instituciones Financieras, ANIF. He is the author of various essays on a wide range of Co lombian subjects, and the co-editor of Cusiana. Un reto de politica economica (1994). Marco Palacios is Professor of History at the Colegio de Mexico. He was Rec tor of the Universidad Nacional and Director of the Instituto Colombiano para la Educaci6n Superior (lCFES). He has published extensively on Colombian history and politics, including EI Cafe en Colombia (1978) and Entre la legitimidady la violencia: Colombia. 1875-1992 (1995). Eduardo Posada-Carbo is Lecturer in History at the Institute of Latin Ameri can Studies, London University. He is the author of The Colombian Caribbean: A Regional History. 1870-1950 (1996) and editor of Elections Be fore Democracy. The History of Elections in Europe and Latin America (1996). With Walter Little he is co-editor of Political Corruption in Europe and Latin America (1996). Jorge Ramirez Ocampo was Minister of Development during the administra tion of Alfonso L6pez Michelsen. He is currently President ofthe Asociaci6n Nacional de Exportadores, Analdex. He is the editor of Una aproximacion al futuro: Colombia, siglo XXI (1991). Alvaro Tirado Mejia is Professor at the Instituto de Estudios Internacionales in the Universidad Nacional, Bogota. He has been Ambassador to Switzerland and Presidential Peace Adviser. He is currently the President of the Commis sion for Human Rights at the Organisation of American States. His many books on Colombian history and politics include, Aspectos pollticos del primer gobierno de Alfonso Lopez Pumarejo, 1934-38 (1981) and Hacia una concepcion global de los derechos humanos (1990). He is the general editor of Nueva Historia de Colombia (1989), 8 vols. ix