Peacebuilding in (post) conflict Colombia : The role of Dutch private international companies

After more than 60 years of conflict, Colombia signed in 2016 a peace agreement be-tween the government and FARC-EP (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia – People´s Army), the largest rebel group in the country. Even though the role of private business actors during the conflict was much discussed and often understood as a cause for protraction of the conflict, the interest of this research is to shed light on the understanding of why and how the private sector, particularly Dutch Private International Companies contributed to peacebuilding in the Colombian post-agreement context. A qualitative research approach is used, in which data was collected from the companies selected in order to understand the current situation of the country. To analyse these findings, especially the relationship and context in which two of the main actors of civil society interact – private sector and state -, a broad concept of governance was used. This helped to look at the relations of those actors who sought to achieve peace and understood it as a public good, in a process called peacebuilding. This research is organized as follows. First, a general introduction presenting the re-search problem based on a strong call from the international community and government, for the private sector as a strategic partner in fostering peace. Next, a general context of private sector involvement in the Colombian armed conflict is described. This is followed by the theoretical approach in which the key concepts of governance, peacebuilding and private sector are used to analyse the findings. The final section is a presentation of the main findings that are in relation to the role of the state and state institutions in shaping private sector responses to foster peace. This is enhanced by a strong influence of neo-liberal peace to the local context, creating an insensitive environment for peacebuilding that might prolong the conflict leading to a vicious cycle in which conflict is perpetuated.