Colombian Jam: The Normalisation of Corrupt Practices in Legislative Processes

Abstract

In the Colombian political context, jam is a colloquial term referring to the practice where some members of Congress receive benefits in exchange for voting in parti-cular way on legislative initiatives. One of the most evident cases of this pheno-menon involves legislators and members of the national government negotiating votes in favour of specific laws in return for public positions or state contracts. Although this is a reprehensible practice under Colombia’s current Social Rule of Law, the general public has come to regard it as an expected feature of political relations. This article first outlines the operation of Jam and then systematises the possible reasons that have led to the normalisation of corruption in Colombia. To achieve this, a critical hermeneutic research approach is adopted, based on qualita-tive methods of document review.