Colombia and the Boomerang Model: The Strength of Weak Ties
The late 1980s saw the emergence of constructivist norm-oriented scholarship in International Relations (IR) theory, popularizing discourse that countervailed state-centric paradigms and rationalist assumptions surrounding state behavior. Authors Martha Finnemore and Kathryn Sikkink were one of the first IR scholars to explore how states and organizations interact with transnational advocacy networks (TANs) to diffuse norms and implement change. In their article “International Norm Dynamics and Political Change,” Finnemore and Sikkink explore the case of Colombia in 2005 to showcase a Boomerang Model in which NGOs in one state (state A) activate transnational linkages to other states (State B) or State B’s national organizations to put pressure on state A’s government to pass reform. The model showcases the power that weak ties and local bridges can play in the sphere of international relations as the relaying of information and the development of domestic political pressure can be enacted through internal bargaining.
Here is a bit of background for the case of Colombia. Founded in 1997, the Peace Community of San Jose de Apartado, located in Colombia’s northern region of Urabá, is one of many communities in Colombia to take a non-violent stand against the war by refusing to support any of the armed actors in Colombia’s civil conflict. Given that the community was located on agriculturally valuable land and was strategic for its access to the drug, troop transportation, and the fault line of conflict, the community has experienced violence from both sides of the civil war. Since 1997, around 170 lives have been claimed by mainly state and paramilitary forces. On February 22, 2005, Luis Eduardo Guerra, the head of the Leadership Council was killed along with his family. Despite credible evidence that the military was responsible, the President placed blame on the guerrillas and implied that fault may have lied with the Community of San Jose de Apartado.
The diagram below showcases the blockage apparent between the Colombian government who remained unresponsive to the demands of the Community of San Jose de Apartado who requested a space neutral from conflict and reparations for the lives taken. As a result, Transnational Advocacy Networks (TANs) in Colombia like NGOs, agencies, media groups, and delegations that worked towards the common cause of providing justice to the Community relayed information to international NGOs (Fellowship of Reconciliation and Witness for Peace) who then relayed information to organizations in the US like Washington NGOs, WOLA, CIP, and LAWG. These US organizations who had a relatively strong network tie to the US government put pressure on the US government to act. As a result, due to these local bridges, and weak and strong ties, the US withheld 25% of aid and prevented Army Brigade in the Colombia region from receiving US funds. Under the Boomerang Network model, this action put pressure on Colombia to pass reform in order to receive the 25% of aid back. Consequently, in 2008, Colombia charged the army general with coordinating the massacres in the community. Despite the general being exonerated in the end, this set a precedent for Colombia’s justice norms as this was the first time in Colombian history that an army general was charged for his crimes in the civil war. Ultimately, these originally weak ties eventually became strong as the Community of San Jose de Apartado developed strong ties with international NGOs as well as created ties with 2 INGOs who currently have a permanent place in the area’s leadership council, self-organized schools, and the overall community.
Sources:
https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/pech.12051
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/pdf/10.1177/0894439316634077#:~:text=Proponents%20of%20the%20boomerang%20model,are%20consistent%20with%20one%20another.