Perhaps the most important role an educational institution can play in respect to it’s area of influence is the building and strengthening of academic spaces in which constructive discussion can take place in a peaceful yet confrontational fashion. Institutions like the LSE whose area of influence is the international community present students and educators alike with the grand opportunity of experiencing these open spaces of ideological discussion and peaceful confrontation in an environment of plurality and multiculturality.

It is in this pluralistic and multicultural setting that the Colombian Society has worked to establish an open and far reaching academic space where matters of interest in a wide variety of subjects and areas can be discussed and developed with the hope of contributing to the intellectual enrichment of it’s members and the understanding and resolution of the complex conflicts affecting our country and the Latin American region.

Convivium is an attempt to translate the democratic and academic space of discussion already established by the Society in the LSE into an eclectic and open publication. A publication that will serve to unite the great potential of human capital now residing outside our boundaries, striving to inform and educate academic centres and public opinion in Great Britain about Colombian reality

The reader is therefore welcomed to approach this newly created space with an open mind and to join in the feast of ideas that follow with what Nietzsche called “ a bit of ironical opposition”.

How the journal Convivium was started

The priority of the Colombian Society 1999-2000 was the promotion of academic debate about current issues in Colombia and Latin America. Several conferences and informal meetings were hosted, with important speakers throughout the year (link). This interest was evident in the well-established working-lunches in the "Robinson room LSE restaurant" and helped to give birth to the idea to create a journal financed by the CS.

The main aim of the journal was to be the creation of open spaces of ideological discussion and peaceful confrontation in an environment of plurality and multiculturality. This publication would be the link between the large numbers of Colombians living in the United Kingdom and the academic centres and public opinion in order to inform them about the Colombian reality.

The project was backed strongly by the CS's members. After intensive and extensive coordination and editing by the editorial board, more than 500 journals were printed of the first issue, with a design reflecting the spirit of the project. This first issue had more than 50 pages, full of excellent articles from five student members, the LSE Director, the H.E. Ambassador of Colombia in the U.K., the General Secretary of the LSE Student Union, and the LSE Alumni Society in Colombia. Regrettably, at the end there were some financial problems with the completion of the printing payments. These were solved thanks to the subsequent year’s CS (2000-2001). Despite the fact that the journal was always a priority for this CS, unfortunately there were some distribution problems and the most of the journals stay in London.

Finally, the CS 2001-2002 decided to transform the original project (annual printing) into an electronic version, which is much more manageable and will contribute to the sustainibility of the project itself, taking into account the annual-turnover of the CS’s members at LSE. Therefore, the new electronic version of the journal Convivium will be published at least once every year (may be around April). All the articles published in the first printed issues can be found here (link).