Plurinationality in tension: differential implementation and constitutional rejection in Bolivia, Ecuador and Chile

The article analyzes the challenges in the materialization of the plurinational state, examining the divergent trajectories in the Andean region. A tri-national comparative analysis deconstructs the "Andean model" to highlight the implementation gap in Bolivia-Ecuador. Meanwhile, tensions persist between traditional state structures and indigenous autonomies of the State apparently towards constitutional recognition; the societal rejection in Chile, to the plurinational project that was defeated in the plebiscite of 2022. For this purpose, the mixed methodology of legal-diachronic analysis of quantitative data on socio-environmental conflicts and citizen perception is used. The study identifies the factors of institutional erosion from the political co-aptation of indigenous justice in Bolivia and narratives of "state fragmentation" promoted by Chilean economic elites in their social and political discourse; the colonial-capitalist power dynamics that limit practical decolonization, visible in the extractivist expansion in indigenous territories; and the lessons of the Chilean post-2023 process, revealing the extent of the marginalization of the idea of plurinationality before the constituent processes. The relevance lies in the offer of a decolonial theoretical framework to understand the normality-reality gap from the contribution of criteria for future constituent processes in Latin America. The results reveal the dependence of plurinational effectiveness on the redistribution of real power in budgets and territorial autonomies; overcoming the coloniality of power in key institutions; and political construction strategies to avoid polarization.