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Government Discourse in the Context of the Transition to Peace in Colombia

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Transitioning to Peace

Part of the book series: Peace Psychology Book Series ((PPBS))

Abstract

This chapter presents a textual analysis of government discourse under the two Colombian presidents that implemented the peace agreement between the Juan Manuel Santos Calderón administration and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People’s Army (FARC-EP). This chapter aims to explore whether the ideological rhetoric in government discourse during the post-agreement period created frameworks for building a culture of peace that facilitates social reconciliation. Two studies were carried out based on official posts made by the presidents on Twitter. The first study compares the discourses of the two administrations. The second presents a chronological analysis of the discourse in posts made by the last presidential administration. Results revealed that cognitive and emotional frameworks were aimed at social reconciliation and forgiveness in the Santos administration (peace with reconciliation) and at security and protection in the Duque administration (peace with legality). In conclusion, despite the rhetoric expressing the desire for peace, the cognitive and emotional frameworks of the government discourse during the second presidential administration do not encourage reconciliation and the recategorization of the adversary in political arenas. In that context of delegitimization, the construction of a peace culture transcends the agreement with the FARC-EP and warns against the escalation of conflict.

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Acknowledgment

The author would like to express their sincere gratitude to Laura Sofía Santamaría Uribe for assistance in data collection. This paper was funded by the Catholic University of Colombia [grant number 4110015].

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Correspondence to María Idaly Barreto-Galeano .

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Barreto-Galeano, M.I. (2021). Government Discourse in the Context of the Transition to Peace in Colombia. In: López López, W., Taylor, L.K. (eds) Transitioning to Peace. Peace Psychology Book Series. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-77688-6_10

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