The Politics Of Coalition Rule In Colombia
After an extended period of violence, political breakdown and military rule, Colombia turned in 1958 to a generation-long experiment in coalition government which provided the country with peace, political stability and the underpinnings of economic prosperity. By the mid-1980s, however, Colombia's limited democracy was being challenged by a growing guerrilla insurgency and the burgeoning drug trade. This lucid analysis explains the strengths and weaknesses of Colombia's coalition regime as a case of "consociationalism" akin to the accords in the Netherlands, Cyprus, Lebanon and Malaysia that were devised to tame ethnic and religious conflicts.
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