¿Qué significan los Laboratorios de Paz para la Unión Europea?.

• Main Author: Dorly Castañeda.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Universidad de los Andes 2009-01-01
• Series: Colombia Internacional
• Online Access: http://peaceworkshops;developmentcooperation;EuropeanUnion;peacebuilding.

The Peace Workshops are programs for development cooperation undertaken by the European Union in Colombian conflict zones. Analyzed from the Foreign Relations perspective, the workshops are a tool of the nascent common European foreign policy. The cooperation initiatives in Colombia, a country in the American sphere of influence, are inscribed in a profile-defining process of the EU as an international actor. The article presents the Peace Workshops in Colombia to then explain what type of donor the EU tends to be, and the building process of its cooperation policy. The conclusion is reached that the Workshops are a European peacebuilding proposal that allows it to differentiate itself from the United States, as well as create for itself a place on the international stage as an actor for peace. However, the European proposal shines a light on the difficulties of establishing an international presence. Indeed, the Member States and the common institutions react in different ways to the changes that occur in the international context, transatlantic relations and the policies of the Colombian government.