Abstract This is a discursive approach to a set of governmental (hence public) texts commonly known as Plan Colombia Initiative. The two main texts under study are Plan Colombia (2000) and Colombia’s Strategy (2007). The Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methodology used frames texts in global discourse of on Drugs’, national ‘War urgencies and demands regarding the internal armed conflict and narratives of drug traffic, environmental protection, and local people. The time frame of the study is from 2000-2009 while the intended spatial focus is Amazon region, although the contextualization needed for discourse analysis purposes, and the spatial evolution of armed conflict, convey wider historical and geographical boundaries. Relevance to Development Studies From a development-studies research framework one can highlight and discuss intended and unintended consequences of policies amidst a long lasting armed conflict. These policies are discursively framed in a purposefully way to address a problem or set of problems including and excluding issues, highlighting and obscuring social groups and natural resources. The process of structuring this multi-level set of issues in a War on Drugs frame has international, regional, national and local perspectives, holding a geopolitical structure within States and powers that can be unveiled from a discourse analysis approach. The republican history of Colombia is characterized for a long lasting dependence with USA especially set in the last 20 years in a developmental economic sphere and a military approach: a counter-insurgent strategy and a fight against illicit drugs. This presence can be gauged discursively by examining thoroughly overarching policies as Plan Colombia initiative. Keywords Plan Colombia, armed conflict, war on drugs, alternative development, environmental institutions, Critical Discourse Analysis Acknowledgements To John Cameron, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Des Gasper for the guidance. To Anna, Badiuzzaman, Daniel, Duygu, Lauren, Mauro and Natalia for their company. And to Susana, for all that love. ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating “Marlow Buddha. Nobody moved for a time. have lost the first of the ebb,’ said the ‘We Director, suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky - seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness” (Joseph Conrad)
Abstract This is a discursive approach to a set of governmental (hence public) texts commonly known as Plan Colombia Initiative. The two main texts under study are Plan Colombia (2000) and Colombia’s Strategy (2007). The Critical Discourse Analysis (CDA) methodology used frames texts in global discourse of ‘War on Drugs’, national urgencies and demands regarding the internal armed conflict and narratives of drug traffic, environmental protection, and local people. The time frame of the study is from 2000-2009 while the intended spatial focus is Amazon region, although the contextualization needed for discourse analysis purposes, and the spatial evolution of armed conflict, convey wider historical and geographical boundaries. Relevance to Development Studies From a development-studies research framework one can highlight and discuss intended and unintended consequences of policies amidst a long lasting armed conflict. These policies are discursively framed in a purposefully way to address a problem or set of problems including and excluding issues, highlighting and obscuring social groups and natural resources. The process of structuring this multi-level set of issues in a War on Drugs frame has international, regional, national and local perspectives, holding a geopolitical structure within States and powers that can be unveiled from a discourse analysis approach. The republican history of Colombia is characterized for a long lasting dependence with USA especially set in the last 20 years in a developmental economic sphere and a military approach: a counter-insurgent strategy and a fight against illicit drugs. This presence can be gauged discursively by examining thoroughly overarching policies as Plan Colombia initiative. Keywords Plan Colombia, armed conflict, war on drugs, alternative development, environmental institutions, Critical Discourse Analysis Acknowledgements To John Cameron, Lorenzo Pellegrini and Des Gasper for the guidance. To Anna, Badiuzzaman, Daniel, Duygu, Lauren, Mauro and Natalia for their company. And to Susana, for all that love. “Marlow ceased, and sat apart, indistinct and silent, in the pose of a meditating Buddha. Nobody moved for a time. ‘We have lost the first of the ebb,’ said the Director, suddenly. I raised my head. The offing was barred by a black bank of clouds, and the tranquil waterway leading to the uttermost ends of the earth flowed sombre under an overcast sky - seemed to lead into the heart of an immense darkness” (Joseph Conrad)
RP-MartinBermudez-FinalCut.docx