A new awakening': Colombia's recent Foreign Policy shift and its Impact on the Internal Conflict : 'Anaphora used by Santos in his inaugural speech as president on August 7th 2010

Sammanfattning:

Colombia’s biggest challenge is to resolve its half-century old armed conflict which began already to affect its neighbours. In this regard, Colombian foreign policy becomes crucial to respond with the internal and external challenges Colombia faces. Colombia has been historically aligned to the United States who has become one of the main destinations of Colombian exports as well as the leading sponsor in the fight against drugs and the guerrilla groups. However, the recent take over of President Juan Manuel Santos in August 2010 seems to have produced a shift in this regard. Santos has tried to increase Colombia’s interaction with other Latin American countries which has triggered several speculations about a move away from Washington, its main ally. Only some months have passed and it is already visible how the existent dynamics between Colombia and other international actors are taking a different shape.

This work investigates the causes and possible impacts of this shift in Colombia’s foreign policy on the internal conflict. Supported by an analytical background on the significance of the external conditions surrounding a conflict, this research was conducted by favouring qualitative methods. Presidential interventions and newspaper articles were analysed by applying discourse analysis. The external perceptions were collected using structured interviews with professors, journalists, diplomats within the Andean region.

The exploratory results suggest that a shift in the Colombian foreign policy indeed took place and was highly perceived by other international actors. It does not respond to a unique cause but to a set of different motives as for example the disappointment with US policies, economic pragmatism, the isolation of Colombia in South America, among others reasons. Furthermore, it is pointed out the way the shift could affect the conflict as well as feasible scenarios for the future.