Abstract

RETTBERG, Angelika  and  MORENO MARTINEZ, Daniela. Tracing the Transition from Guerrilla to Political Party in Colombia. How’s Comunes Party?. Estud. Polit. [online]. 2023, n.66, pp.230-254.  Epub June 28, 2023. ISSN 0121-5167.  https://doi.org/10.17533/udea.espo.n66a10.

The transition from guerrillas to political parties is a difficult process, which poses political, organizational, economic and social challenges. This paper examines the process of transforming one of the last and most important Latin American guerrillas organizations into a political party, as a result of the peace agreement signed in 2016 between the Colombian State and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia-People’s Army (FARC‑EP). As a part of this agreement, FARC was granted ten seats in the Colombian Congress, for two consecutive terms (2018‑2022; 2022‑2026). How has the group -renamed to Comunes in 2021- navigated its transition from guerrilla to a political party? Based on interviews and a revision of primary and secondary sources, its congressional performance is analyzed and several challenges are identified. Among them are the development of their own electoral, the forging of lasting alliances with similar groups, and other issues resulting from the hierarchical and highly personalized structure of the former guerrilla, which operates as an obstacle for internal democratization, and its ideological adaptation, which generates tensions among its members.

Keywords : Political Parties; Elections; Post-Conflict; Peace; Comunes Party; Colombia.

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