Abstract

SUAREZ MAYORGA, Adriana María. Appealing to the National Conciliation: The 1904 Elections for the Council of Bogotá. Rev. Ciudades Estados Política [online]. 2020, vol.7, n.1, pp.69-82.  Epub Dec 13, 2021. ISSN 2462-9103.

The new urban sociology has not only emphasized the need to consider the historical interpretation as an indispensable component in the analysis of any society, but has also claimed the importance of politics in order to understand both the physical and social production of urban space. The translation of these precepts into the field of studies centered on the local sphere, implies to assume that the ability of cities to choose their dignitaries through popular representation is a determining factor for the municipal administration to acquire a preeminent place in the institutional scaffolding of the national level.

Based on the above, the objective of this article is to examine the elections for city councilors held in Bogotá in 1904, in order to elucidate how the urban planning problems exteriorized by the city became a luck of battle horse that the publicistas used, either to advise citizens on the election that they were going to make, or to denounce the crisis that the Colombian territory was experiencing.

Methodologically, the argument was based on a rigorous examination of primary and secondary sources, giving special relevance to the press of the time. The main conclusion of the writing is that the concern for Bogotá's development evidenced in the newspapers of the early 20th century, should not be understood as a mere discursive element but as a scathing criticism of the rigid political and administrative centralism imposed during the Regeneration (1886-1910).

Keywords : local administration; Colombia; municipal elections; twentieth century; urban sociology.

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