Alcalde Mayor
Banco De La Republica
Betancur Administration
Category=NHK
Central Government
clientelist politics
Colombia
Colombian Labor
Colombian Political System
Colombian political system analysis
Colombian's democracy
Colombian's history
common crime
Cordillera Occidental
Cordillera Oriental
corruption and governance
Ejercito De Liberacion Nacional
elite power structures
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Gran Colombia
Guerrilla Group
Guerrilla Organization
guerrilla warfare
Junta
Latin American politics
Military Junta
Ministerio Publico
National Confederation
National Front Agreements
Nueva Granada
political clientelism
political violence studies
Quintin Lame
Republica De Colombia
rural development policy
Santa Fe De Bogota
Social Conservative Party
Tv News Program
Valle Del Cauca
Product details
- ISBN 9780887382291
- Weight: 680g
- Dimensions: 152 x 229mm
- Publication Date: 31 Dec 1988
- Publisher: Taylor & Francis Inc
- Publication City/Country: GB
- Product Form: Hardback
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In what is destined to prove the definitive text for the present generation on the political, economic, and social structure of Colombia, Jorge Pablo Osterling explores the enigmatic nature of this special, even critical, anchor to the northern tier of South America. In many ways, Colombia is a huge success story: it is one of the oldest, most stable, functioning democracies; the land is blessed with rich and diversified resources and products; and its foreign debt has been kept in check as a consequence of sound economic management.But despite its positive social, cultural, economic, and political indicators, Colombia has been a nation beset by serious problems: overt corruption and unemployment are very high; and its public service facilities to outlying rural areas remain weak, thus making schooling, water supplies, health care, and electrification hard to establish at high levels. Above all, Colombia has a reputation, well earned, as one of the most violent nations in the world. Drug trafficking, common crime, and guerrilla activity are all pandemic and conspire to destabilize the regime.In this straightforward, compelling account, Osterling shows how this paradox has evolved, and why it has persisted over the past fifty years. He draws attention to parallel political structures: a functioning set of civilian institutions that coexist alongside one of the most powerful closed, hierarchical political elites in Latin America. Osterling locates the central problem of the maintenance of interpersonal relations as being more important to the functioning of Colombian society than impersonal norms. This is a country in which political bosses vie with popular democracy for control of the country.
Jorge Pablo Osterling was born in Peru and educated at the University of California in Berkeley, where he received his advanced degrees. He has taught at various Peruvian universities, was a fellow at Amsterdam's Inter-University Center for Latin American Research and Documentation, and served as a research scientist in the area studies program of the American University. Currently, he is visiting professor at Bogota's Pontificia Universidad Javeriana. He is the author of From Peasants to Professionals (in Spanish), various articles dealing with migration and contemporary urban problems, and several chapters in the Latin American Area Handbook Series.
