From the peace building towards the social dialogues discourse building among youth in Caldas

Abstract

Within the Peace watchers Project, about human coexistence and citizen participation from the perspective of youth in Caldas department, it was made a fieldwork during the 2

nd semester 2009. This document explains the watched actions typology in this period, and it redefines the concepts from which to try with this field. Although, a certain contemporary peace studies network is very visible in the international context, being focused in the conflict transformation and having some critical-comprehensive definitions of peace and violence, the local context in Caldas reveals a reality where other concepts marked more the discourses, and where, as a result of the complexity of the conflict, it is very difficult to keep a clear definition of peace. As a result, despite the strong support behind a certain youth participation movement, we observe that the most of the peace building actions are unspecific regarding their theoretical perspective and methodology. In this scenery, critical perspectives of the concepts of dialogue, participation and conflict are very promising.