Reconciliation Perspectives in Colombia: Characterizing the 2016 Peace Agreement With the FARC

Abstract

Despite ending a 60-year armed conflict with the oldest guerrilla group in Latin America, the 2016 peace agreement with the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (farc) has faced growing opposition and resentment from the general population. This resistance has mainly occurred due to the absence of literature clearly providing an explanation of its contents, compromising its implementation and stability. Using the Peace Accords Matrix of the University of Notre Dame, this article explores some of the widespread criticism by comparing this agreement to others in 31 other countries. The key findings suggest that the 2016 Colombian peace agreement is the most extensive and the second most complex signed since 1989, and its crux may be categorized into five different groups of provisions. Statistical analysis suggests that its major criticism —its complexity— is the main impediment to the expected implementation level. Therefore, its stability should be guaranteed by exploring inventive strategies to gain popular support and legitimacy.