Colombia's protracted civil war between Marxist insurgencies and the state has
brought grave consequences for the civilian population and the prospects for
constructing a viable political community in the country. With up to 5 million
internally displaced people, rampant impunity for perpetrators of crimes against
humanity and human rights and International Humanitarian Law violations,
dozens of politicians and countless members of the armed forces linked to
paramilitary organizations, along with increasing social injustices and
inequalities, Colombia presents a troubling social-political panorama that has
led to what is often referred to as a profound social and institutional 'moral
crisis'. Much discussion has centred on the question of achieving some degree
of minimal moral and political consensus and 'collective conscience' to
humanize and slowly transform the conflict at local, regional and national levels.
However, the philosophical and political parameters of this discussion have
been and continue to be set firmly within variants of the liberal tradition which, it
is argued, does not provide the necessary resources for adequately
conceptualizing the problem and conceiving the task of addressing conflict,
constructing moral consensus, and seeking social and political coexistence. The
thesis argues that the philosophy of Alasdair MacIntyre can provide such
resources. MacIntyre provides a convincing account of the philosophical
problems that underlie ongoing intractable disagreement and the conflicts it
breeds, offering a philosophy that can inform and underpin efforts at social
transformation, resistance, and coexistence as well as aiding the necessary
task of social scientific research and analysis of the conflict. The thesis analyses
the moral dimensions of the conflict in light of MacIntyre's philosophy but also
critically explores the adequacy of his politics of local community for the
Colombian context. MacIntyre argues that a rational political community can
only be constructed through the praxis of local communities engaging in shared
moral-political deliberation. Through an empirical case study of a Constituent
Assembly process in a rural community that has suffered the impacts of armed
conflict for decades, the thesis explores an attempt at constructing peaceful
social and political coexistence in light of MacIntyre's moral-sociological
framework. / Economic and Social Research Council
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:BRADFORD/oai:bradscholars.brad.ac.uk:10454/5103 |
| Date | January 2011 |
| Creators | Chambers, Paul A. |
| Contributors | Pearce, Jenny V. |
| Publisher | University of Bradford, Department of Peace Studies |
| Source Sets | Bradford Scholars |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis, doctoral, PhD |
| Rights | <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/"><img alt="Creative Commons License" style="border-width:0" src="http://i.creativecommons.org/l/by-nc-nd/3.0/88x31.png" /></a><br />The University of Bradford theses are licenced under a <a rel="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/">Creative Commons Licence</a>. |
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