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Colombia THE POST-NATIONAL FRONT PERIOD, 1974-82
The Erosion of Partisan Affiliations
The PL and PC were weak, divided into factions, and
inadequately organized at the end of the existence of the
National
Front. Because the political parties were not eager to
engage in
intense competition, Colombia achieved a peaceful
transition to an
open system. The principle of power-sharing was retained,
although
a president was allowed to select appointees from whatever
sources
he chose if the opposition refused to participate in his
government.
The experience of the National Front, the lack of
organizational efforts by the parties, and the massive
migrations
from rural to urban areas weakened party affiliations,
which also
decreased the likelihood of interparty violence. This
weakening of
party identification emerged as an unforeseen consequence
of the
nonpartisan structure of the National Front, in which
party loyalty
was less important than support for a particular faction.
In
addition, rapid urbanization and industrialization eroded
the
traditional bases of partisan support because Liberal
supporters
were transplanted to Conservative communities. The period
after the
National Front also reflected a growing gap between the
issues and
agendas of the political elite and the demands, concerns,
and
expectations of the populace.
The erosion of the bond between the elites and the
masses also
was manifested in the high rates of electoral
abstentionism, rising
levels of mass political apathy and cynicism, the
emergence of an
urban swing vote, and widespread distrust of the nation's
political
institutions and leadership. The image the masses held of
the elite
was tarnished by the failure of the elite as a whole to
institute
promised reforms and by suspected links between some
leaders and
the drug trade. The traditional mechanisms of political
control,
such as inherited party affiliation, patrimonialism, and
clientelism, lost their effectiveness, especially in the
growing
urban areas.
The government's failure to accommodate the new social
groups
and classes that had emerged during Colombia's
modernization
generated the increasing alienation of the masses from the
political leadership and caused some elements among the
masses to
resort to militancy. Thus, Colombia experienced a
radicalization of
peasant movements, an increase in urban protests, a
growing
restlessness within the urban labor movement, and a surge
in rural
and urban guerrilla activity.
Popular discontent with the government's management of
the
economy continued despite steady economic growth and high
primary
export revenues in the mid-1970s. The post-National Front
period
began in the midst of inflation and unemployment that
fueled social
unrest and prompted the government to institute unpopular
antiinflationary austerity measures. Subsequent moves to
increase
employment by raising public spending on construction and
infrastructure projects did more to augment the national
debt than
to alleviate the unemployment problem. As the coffee boom
receded,
growth rates declined steadily through the 1978-82 period.
The
massive underground economy, fueled by drug trafficking
and
marijuana cultivation, undermined the government's efforts
to
control inflation and contributed to the rise of a
parallel
financial market, placing a large part of the national
economy
beyond the control of legitimate authority
(see Crops
, ch.
3).
Data as of December 1988
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