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Honduras as a Complex Adaptive System and What It Means for the European Union

Subtitle: 
The Case of Violence
Volume, number, page: 
n.294
Year of Publication: 
2016
Author(s): 
LEHMANN Kai
Organization Name: 
German Institute of Global and Area Studies
Acronym: 
GIGA
Publisher: 
GIGA
City: 
Hamburg
Country of Publication: 
Germany
Full Date: 
December 2016
Considered Countries: 
Honduras
Category: 
Reports
Theme: 
Country - LAC
BIREGIONAL DIALOGUES UE-LAC
Government
Civil Society
Keyword(s): 
European Union Policy
European Union
Violence
Complexity
Human systems dynamics
Foreign Policy
European Political Cooperation
Central America
Caribbean
International Co-operation
Foreign policy strategies
Security strategies
Foreign policy measures
Bilateral foreign aid
Bilateral relations
Bilateralism
Abstract: 
This paper assesses why the various initiatives undertaken by the European Union in Honduras have not had the desired impact of reducing the extraordinary levels of violence in the country. The hypothesis put forward is that the EU’s approach to the issue of violence has been unsuccessful because it does not match the complexity of the problem encountered.
As an alternative, the paper puts forward complexity and human systems dynamics as conceptual frameworks for reinterpreting the issue of violence. It shows that violence is one of the results of an incoherent process of self‐organisation which marks Honduras and suggests ways of influencing the conditions that make up this pattern in order to address the problem of violence. It also outlines what this new approach would mean for the actions and policies proposed and implemented by the European Union.
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