El discurso civilista en tiempos de la Gran Colombia

From the moment the independence of Colombia was formalized, and as a result of the military legacy inherited from the war, an intense discus-sion arose on military matters, particularly on the place armed forces should have and the role they had to play within the new institutional order. The development of this debate not only fostered this discussion, but also resulted in a cunning and com-pelling civilist discourse, by which an attempt was made to sub-ordinate the army and to cement the institutional order of the republic. This paper aims to describe both the content and po-litical scope of these discourses and debates, drawing upon the material published in some newspapers and documents of the time. It also aims to elucidate how they influenced the course of Colombian political and institutional life during those years.