Collective Rights, Mobilization, and Accessibility: Towards a Comparative Framework for Explaining Minority Influence on Decision Making in Multiethnic Latin America—With Empirical Reference to Case Studies in Colombia and Panama

Abstract

This article outlines a comparative perspective on legal multiculturalism in Latin America. It analyzes how consultation and territorial autonomy rights may be used to include the interests of indigenous and afro-descendant minorities in decision making. It is argued that (a) the organizational forms of minorities and (b) previous patterns of interaction with state actors need to be taken into account systematically. Scrutiny of two case studies from Colombia and Panama shows that collective rights can improve access to decision makers and help to channel minority interests into policy outputs. Both case studies reveal that confederal organizational forms help to maintain coherent ethnic mobilization. The Panamanian case furthermore demonstrates that previous interactions with state actors can result in bargaining advantages for minorities.