Questioned Sovereignty and Challenged Diplomacies: The Case of the Aymara People and the State of Chile

Abstract

ABSTRACT Based on the relations between the Aymara people and the State of Chile, this article analyzes two crucial dimensions for international studies. On the one hand, it studies the ideas, debates and practices of State sovereignty in borderland areas and contrasts them with the narrative of the Aymara people that inhabit these cross-border spaces; on the other, it examines Indigenous Consultation processes involving the government of Chile and Aymara communities, which provide evidence of mismatched diplomatic relationships. Both dimensions address the diverging conceptions of “international order” present in the borderland strip, which are marked by hegemonic practices on the part of the national State and increasingly questioned by the narratives and practices of the indigenous peoples.