Competitiveness in Colombia: economic aperture, support institutions, and democratic security

Abstract

By means of a revision of secondary sources that gathers contributions from different authors, it is intended to show that against any prediction of common sense, it is possible to fi nd in the  Colombian context (in which there is evidence of enormous obstacles for the development of public and private initiatives) business units and economic sectors that can be classifi ed as competitive in the international scenario. Even with decades of violence, corruption, and institutional weakness, Colombia has always had a business management that has shown creativity to maintain and develop itself in the middle of instability. The results obtained by the transit from a protectionist economic model to an aperture model during the last decade, the growth of the competitiveness promoting institutions, and the confi dence reached due to the setting of the Democratic Security Policy by the current government, have played a determinant role in the strengthening of the competitive situation of the country.