Peace and Development in the Andes?
The objective of this paper is to explain, from a post-structuralist perspective, the way in which discourse mediated by the mechanism of international development alludes to “peace” and “prosperity” and then takes on board the global concern with security, thus rendering the latter a simplified synonym for the notion of peace and a crucial objective of the mechanism. Democracy then becomes an instrument of this objective and, henceforth, the aim of local development assistance programs is to establish pre-set models of citizenship that will place the function of control at the heart of the citizen’s actions. Ossified in the local sphere, this model of international development fails to take account of cultural diversity and continues to reinforce the marginalization and structural violence characteristic of Peruvian society. The slaying of the mayor of Ilave, in the department of Puno, Peru, by his fellow-citizens, who were the object of such development practices, illustrates how this process can lead to extreme situations that are totally antithetical to the search for peace.