Document Type

Article

Disciplines

International Law

Abstract

In recent months, the guerrilla war in Colombia has dramatically entered the world stage. While Colombian governments for decades resisted the internationalization of the internal conflict, they are now lobbying for U.S. and European financial support, accepting bi-lateral conditions, and invoking international norms. This approach offers new possibilities for resolving the forty year conflict. Upon closer analysis, it could also prolong it. By internationalization, here, is not meant the mandatory application of the laws of interstate war nor the recognition of fights to self-determination. It refers to attempts to manage, and potentially resolve, the internal conflict through international legal formulas, rather than through simply national or constitutional means. International legality, in this setting, appears to offer a neutral language in which to conduct peace talks. Free of the limitations inherent in municipal law, its doctrines and rules are not settled exclusively by reference to the state. Moreover, the general policy underlying international law is presumed to promote peace and, at a minimum, to humanize the war.

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