Collective reincorporation of FARC-EP and social and solidarity economies: beyond moral imagination

Abstract

Collective productive projects are an effective strategy to bring reconciliation and development to the most remote parts of the national territory. Incipient rural development was recognised in the peace agreement, signed between the Colombian government and the Armed Forces of Colombia People’s Army (FARC-EP), as one of the causes of the armed conflict. However, social margins and precarious conditions are not exclusive to the countryside; exclu- sion also occurs in urban centres. Using ethnographic methods, we visited three areas of reincorporation to identify the socio- economic practices of collective productive projects. The findings suggest that the social solidarity economy is a promising alternative led by FARC-EP ex-combatants and host communities to resist socio-economic exclusion.