The Politics of Development in Colombia: Accounting for the Plurality of Development Models

Abstract

Colombia, like other countries in the region, is undergoing a moment of self-definition. At its heart lies the issue of development. The increasing plurality of competing development models and political economies, however, complicates the discursive landscape and defies conventional approaches. To make sense of this complexity, grid group cultural theory and its typology of four irreducible, mutually exclusive, and jointly exhaustive ideal-typical worldviews is proposed. Four distinct development models are identified in Colombia’s recent experience, illustrated by neoliberalism, developmentalism, post-development alternatives such as Buen Vivir and Vivir Sabroso, and a chimera.