The text argues that the problem of democratic viability can be approached through three perspectives. The first two, the Western ideal model of democracy and the idealization of the past as a period of harmony and order, lead to interpretations of the Colombian state as failed or collapsed. On the contrary, the third perspective, which refers to a gradual process of state-building, suggests that the Colombian state is reformulated on a daily basis. The author examines the democratization process in Colombia in order to refute the failed state thesis.