Resisting Liberal Peace: Unpacking the FARC-EP’s Documents for La Habana Peace Negotiations Kiara Mongrut Rosado Thesis submitted to the University of Ottawa, in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Master of Arts. Department of Criminology Faculty of Social Sciences University of Ottawa © Kiara Mongrut Rosado, Ottawa, Canada, 2019 i ii Acknowledgements This thesis could have not been completed without the love and encouragement of several important people. I would like to express my sincerest gratitude to my thesis supervisor, Dr. Maritza Felices-Luna for your guidance, expertise and encouragement. Thank you for helping me figure things out, while I was stressed and for challenging my thinking and helping me become a better writer. Without your constant support and patience, I would have never been able to complete this journey. Next, I want to thank my family for always listening and providing me with love and support to pursue my aspirations. A special thanks to my friends, especially Camila, Anthony and Elias who listened and encouraged me to keep going. A special shout out to Haileigh and Thana in the MA program, AKA the support system. Finally, I would like to thank my cat Zelda who was always there when I needed a break. iii Abstract Peace negotiation is a complex political process used to end a conflict and establish peace. This thesis provides a qualitative analysis of the FARC-EP documents in preparation for the peace negotiations. Using Neocleous concept of pacification and Hannah Arendt’s concept of the political, I explored the ways in which the FARC-EP resist liberal peace by re-politicizing the conflict, addressing the sources of the inequalities and injustices generated by and for capitalism, and implying alternative ways of thinking about politics, power, justice and security to transform society. The analysis revealed that the FARC-EP thinks about peace and conflict resolution as a political process requiring social transformation of deep structural conditions through negotiation and deliberation in order to create a more just society. The FARC-EP conceptualizes peace as a complex political process that must be under local ownership and domestically rooted. In doing so, the FARC-EP addresses the root causes of the conflict by calling for transformative justice, replacing national security with integral security, extending politics beyond representative democracy and demanding equality to end the power imbalances that are so prominent in Colombia. By negotiating with the Colombian state, the FARC-EP accepts that not all their proposals will be implemented, given that it is in fact a negotiation. As a result, I conclude that peace negotiations can have the opposite effect and pacify political-military organizations in order to protect capitalist order after armed conflict has failed to succeed. Keywords: liberal peace; critical theory; peace and conflict studies; pacification iv Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................. ii Abstract ...................................................................................................................................... iii Table of Contents .................................................................................................................... iv Introduction .............................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1: Literature review ............................................................................................... 6 1.1. Peacemaking Literature ............................................................................................................. 7 1.1.1. Negotiating actors ......................................................................................................................... 10 1.1.2. Factors for successful peace agreements ............................................................................... 15 1.1.3. Outcomes to look for ...................................................................................................................... 17 1.2. Critical Approach .................................................................................................................. 20 1.2.1. Conflict resolution is political ................................................................................................... 22 1.2.2. Outcomes to look for ...................................................................................................................... 29 1.3. Exploring the different perspectives on Peace, Justice and Power ............................. 30 1.3.1. Conceptualizing peace .................................................................................................................. 31 1.3.2. Justice v. Peace ................................................................................................................................... 35 1.3.3. Conceptualizing of Power ............................................................................................................. 41 1.4. Introduction to the FARC-EP ................................................................................................ 44 1.5. Conclusion .................................................................................................................................. 51 Chapter 2: Conceptual framework ................................................................................... 52 2.1. Hannah Arendt and the Political ........................................................................................... 52 2.2. Neocleous and the concept of Pacification ........................................................................... 58 2.3. Coherence of Conceptual Framework .............................................................................. 65 2.4. Limitations of Conceptual Framework ................................................................................ 67 Chapter 3: Methodology ...................................................................................................... 69 3.1. Critical Paradigm ..................................................................................................................... 69 3.2. Research Question and Research Goals .............................................................................. 70 3.3. Documentary Analysis ............................................................................................................. 71 3.4. Thematic Analysis ..................................................................................................................... 74 3.5. Limitations of the research ..................................................................................................... 77 Chapter Four-Analysis ......................................................................................................... 79 4.1. The FARC-EP’s conceptualization of peace ....................................................................... 79 4.2. Re-politicizing the Conflict ..................................................................................................... 83 4.3. Addressing the problems of and generated by capitalism ............................................. 88 4.3.1. Describing the situation ................................................................................................................. 88 4.3.2. Changes to be implemented ....................................................................................................... 100 4.4 Deep structural transformations for long lasting peace .................................................. 115 4.4.1. Conceptualizing the political ........................................................................................................ 115 4.4.2. Reformulating Power ...................................................................................................................... 117 4.4.3. Conceptualizing Justice ................................................................................................................. 118 4.4.4 Thinking differently about Security ............................................................................................ 120 References .............................................................................................................................. 126 v Appendix ............................................................................................................................... 154 1 Introduction Negotiations to transform a state of war or conflict into a state of peace and non-violence is a complex process that includes many diverse actors deliberating on a wide range of political, constitutional and economic issues and values (Pfestch, 2007). The political negotiations to reach peace agreements represent a unique opportunity to create lasting social and political change by addressing the underlying issues generating conflict and by developing relationships among parties to the conflict. This view is not widely recognized and studied within the peace and conflict literatures. The scientific literature tends to adopt a peacemaking approach, which aims to solve manifested problems by using international intervention, negotiation outcomes and liberal peacebuilding strategies to produce durable peace agreements. This approach is criticised