La constitución multicultural, el estado de derecho y la flexibilización de las formas jurídicas

In this presentation I articulate some considerations about the Multicultural Constitution in Latin America as it  was recently enacted in some Andean countries like Bolivia and Ecuador. The Multicultural Constitution, as a process of emancipation of indigenous peoples in Latin America has provoked not only substantial changes in the traditional legal architecture of Latin American constitutionalism  but also permitted  the use of the  Constitution as a counter-hegemonic and decolonizing  instrument. The constitutional recognition of indigenous justice and its own distinct forms of legal production, has challenged the traditional concept of formal law. Paradoxically, the re-emergence of indigenous law  and justice was achieved  through the use of formal and legal instruments which historically had been  used to  strengthen colonial dominance over indigenous peoples. I will analyze very briefly the case of the indigenous people of Chibuleo and their own system of justice stressing the emancipatory and social cohesion  effects which have resulted from the implementation of the autonomous indigenous judicial system. This analysis is based on some theoretical tools provided  by globalization studies  and global governance scholarship and focused on  the transformative role that global counter-hegemonic social movements have played in the de-construction of traditional state in a context of economic globalization in some countries of Latin America.