Social Fatigue in Incompatible Institutional Logics on the Transition to Peace

We examine the case of management education in Colombia, where an exogenous, fast-moving political change for a transition to peace was implemented that facilitated scholarships for ex-combatants and individuals displaced by war. Based on a qualitative study at a private university in Medellín, we found that institutional complexities resulted from incompatible institutional logics among students rejected and excluded in the context of the stigma Colombians placed on scholarship recipients. This phenomenon is explained based on the different cognitive and normative orders involved in slow-moving institutional change. This study presents the following alternative conceptualization to study institutional change in armed-conflict contexts: social fatigue in peacebuilding. We define social fatigue in peacebuilding as individuals’ psychological surrender to the belief that peace will not be reached despite political change targeting social transformation. Understanding the antecedents of institutional complexities might assist in implementing peacebuilding strategies in armed conflict contexts to implement long-term integration policy by which students receive emotional support to help with the immersion process in a transition to peace."