Legal Pluralism: Opportunities for Development from a Constitutional Perspective in Latin America

Abstract

The recognition of legal pluralism by International Law on Human Rights, especially by Convention 169 of the ILO, as well as its positivization in the Constitutions of some Latin American states, allows us to affirm that this principle must move from its foundational phase to the phase of its consolidation. Through a qualitative and theoretical methodology that analyzes the state of the art proposed by recognized authors on the subject, this article aims to describe legal possibilities to overcome the current stagnation in the theoretical development of legal pluralism. With this, the author aims to describe the current perspective with which legal pluralism is studied, showing a problem of approach based on the lack of coordination and articulation between legal science, legal sociology and legal anthropology, causing a crisis and a stagnation in the development of the concept. Effectively, whit the recognition of indigenous normative systems in Latin American constitutions and their current development, it can be affirmed that the solution, of course, is that the study of legal pluralism must be carried out from the perspective of law. This is the only way to facilitate a normative and interjurisdictional dialogue between indigenous law and state law in the strict sense, which will make legal pluralism effective. In Colombia, the Special Jurisdiction for Peace is not only an example of this beginning of dialogue between jurisdictions, but also leads to the conclusion that legal pluralism is constituted as a core element in the new Latin American constitutionalism to guarantee the obligatory and binding nature of indigenous normative systems through dialogue between the civilized nations that make up a state.