Indigenous Politics and Autonomy in Plurinational Contexts

Over the past two decades, a growing body of scholarship has examined how states that formally recognise multiple nations within their borders seek to accommodate indigenous claims to self-governance, cultural preservation and legal plurality. These plurinational frameworks—most prominently adopted in Andean countries—attempt to overturn colonial hierarchies by granting indigenous peoples territorial autonomy and constitutional rights. In practice, the results have been mixed: while transformative constitutionalism enshrines collective rights, bureaucratic procedures often impose state‐centred logics on indigenous institutions. Research emphasises the tensions between decentralised self-determination and centralised state sovereignty, the uneven implementation of autonomy statutes, and the ways in which indigenous actors negotiate, resist and repurpose state instruments for their own political ends. Comparative perspectives highlight that, beyond Latin America, plurinational models are reshaping debates on decolonisation, participatory democracy and sustainable resource management in diverse regions.

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Indigenous Politics and Autonomy in Plurinational Contexts publication trend

The graph below shows the total number of articles in indigenous politics and autonomy in plurinational contexts across all publications each year (not limited to Nature Index journals).

Technical terms

Plurinational state: A form of constitutional order that formally recognises the coexistence of multiple distinct nations or peoples within a single territorial state, granting collective rights and autonomy to indigenous groups.

Legal pluralism: The coexistence of multiple legal systems—often state law alongside customary law—within the same social field, each claiming legitimacy and authority over specific matters or populations.

Autonomy: A degree of self-government granted to a community or region, encompassing political decision-making, cultural practices and territorial management, often enshrined in constitutional or legislative instruments.

Transformative constitutionalism: An approach to constitutional design and interpretation aimed at redressing historic injustices, promoting substantive equality and restructuring power relations in favour of marginalised groups.

References

1. Can states be decolonized? Indigenous peoples and radical constitutional reform in Bolivia. The Journal of Peasant Studies (2023).
2. The Case of Piruani: Contested Justice, Legal Pluralism, and Indigeneity in Highland Bolivia. PoLAR Political and Legal Anthropology Review (2021).
3. AUTONOMIAS INDÍGENAS NA BOLÍVIA: ENTRE A AUTODETERMINAÇÃO E A COLONIALIDADE. Novos Estudos Jurí­dicos (2023).