Symbiosis in the making? Evaluating EU’s engagement with Civil Society Organisations in Colombia. A Civilian Power Europe perspective

Sammanfattning: In recent years, EU’s development policy has undergone wide-ranging reform with the leading principle of responding to the circumstances and demands of the current world, but also for the sake of alignment to the UN 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development. In line with the reasoning that an empowered civil society can help in the exercise of EU’s development policy and in the pursuit of development policy goals, the organisation has formed a strategy of engagement with CSOs in its external relations. This study’s focus is specifically on EU’s performance in Colombia, a Latin American country encompassed by EU’s development policy. Since Colombian CSOs still face numerous barriers hindering their work, it cannot be simply asserted that EU’s strategy has been effective. Hence, this study’s purpose is to critically evaluate EU’s engagement with Colombian CSOs, by taking into account EU’s capabilities as a civilian power to identify both the limits and potentials of the organisation’s approach. The study concludes that it is not the choice of power instruments, but the way the EU uses them that causes the strategy’s ineffectiveness. Although the Union has managed to increase Colombian CSOs’ capacity, the latter cannot be fully utilised due to the unfavourable framework for such organisations. Nevertheless, considering recent improvements made to EU’s strategy, it is argued that symbiosis between the EU and Colombian CSOs is still a realistic prospect, but one that requires increased efforts from the Union.