Colombia: Social capital, social movements and sustainable development in Cauca

M odern development theorists have repeatedly argued that the associative networks constructed by civil society influence countries’ economic growth processes by correcting aspects such as failures of the market and of democratic governance resulting from the operation of public policies. In the case of a region such as the Department of Cauca, situated in the south-west of Colombia, a profusion of social movements and collective action has not been matched by good economic results, by comparison with what has been achieved elsewhere in the country with similar or lower levels of social organization. The present paper sets out to specify the categories involved in this phenomenon in the light of the region’s cultural peculiarities, which make it a crucial case study for understanding the effects of mass movements on Latin American development. KEYWORDS