resources. Finally, the U’wa case unfolded at a time of crucial democratic reform in Colombia, a
process in which indigenous peoples played a central role. In short, the case permits a
particularly rich opportunity for developing knowledge about how marginalized peoples acquire
power and voice, how they intersect with powerful actors and institutions, and how changes in
governance and power relationships embedded in globalizing processes occur.
Thus, the purpose of this study of a single case falls, considering Van Evera’s list of the
purposes of case studies, into the category of creating theory. My objective is to expand and
enrich international relations regime theory through extensive empirical case analysis. (Van
Evera, 1997, p. 85). The purpose is to enhance the development of knowledge within the
mainstream theoretical framework of international relations regime theory by giving voice to the
silences that have traditionally characterized it. Selecting from the larger study from which this
article is derived, I choose to examine the evolution in practice and meaning construction of a
process known as consultation.
The State in an Era of Change
Essential is the way in which this approach contributes to studies challenging
conceptualizations of the state as a unitary (ir)rational entity and to new ways of analyzing
transformations of the state, the changing boundaries and activities of contemporary political
communities and civil society, and the relationship between these.
Components of
transnational social movement literature attempting to defy state-centric paradigms by focusing
on non-state/non-governmental/civil society actors, and attempting to bridge the separation of
the state from the market, may run he risk of recreating some of the units of analysis problems
they set out to solve. For example, models which consider states “targets” to be impacted by
trans-spatial “boomerang patterns,” and which split the state from civil society, can miss the
practical, normative and trans-formative influence of actors and processes existing within
porous boundaries of the state and multiple ways in which state actors participate, form
2
As Gillian Hart asserts, in her interpretation of Gramsci, “State and civil society [just like state and the market] are
not separate, but are deeply interconnected and make one another.” Lecture, Feb 14. 2005. UC Berkeley.
3
Convention