Formality and Illegality: Ironies and Interpenetrations in Colombia

• In Event: The Grey Zones of Illegality and Informality: Creativity, Cunning and Innovation

Abstract

In this presentation we put forward a series of cases where the formally rational practices of state and allied agencies which are officially designed to reduce, frustrate, or outlaw illegal activities, tend to produce ironically counterproductive results. Though all our examples are taken from a series of interlinked studies of contemporary mundane social life in Colombia, we do not wish them to constitute a ‘portrait’ of just this society; we invite our audience to reflect on their wider relevances.
Our cases include:

1. The highly formal practices of the institution of the notary which, far from guaranteeing legality, can be and are used by practitioners of illegal actions to facilitate their breeches of the law;

2. The general overproduction of proscriptive and prescriptive laws, norms and regulations observable as a ubiquitous feature of Colombian social life. Here, the abundance of regulation can be experienced both as a cause of frustrated action and as an environment available for the skilled ‘gaming’ of bureaucracy. An obvious example is (and not only in Colombia) the regulatory complexities of tax law which are, in the main, successfully ‘negotiated’ (i.e. gamed) only by the well-resourced targets of the regulations such as multinational corporations;

3. State identity practices. The attempt by the Colombian state to uniquely identify its citizens through the technology of the ID card (cédula) and its accompanying normativities, with the object of preventing electoral fraud (and other crimes) is riddled with many in-practice ironies.

Authors

• Malcom Ashmore, Loughborough University

• Olga Restrepo, Universidad Nacional De Colombia