Plurinationality, plurinational, or plurinationalism is defined as the coexistence of two or more sealed or preserved national groups within a

polity A polity is a group of people with a collective identity, who are organized by some form of political Institutionalisation, institutionalized social relations, and have a capacity to mobilize resources. A polity can be any group of people org ...

(an organized community or body of peoples). In plurinationalism, the idea of

nationality Nationality is the legal status of belonging to a particular nation, defined as a group of people organized in one country, under one legal jurisdiction, or as a group of people who are united on the basis of culture. In international law, n ...

is plural, meaning there are many nationals within an organized community or body of peoples. Derived from this concept, a plurinational state is the existence of multiple political communities and constitutional asymmetry. The usage of plurinationality assists in avoiding the division of societies within a state or country. Furthermore, a plurinational democracy recognizes the multiple demoi (common people or populace)demos
thefreedictionary.com within a polity.Keating, Michael
Plurinational Democracy in a Post-Sovereign Order
, Queen's Papers on Europeanisation No 1/2002 Reportedly the term has its origin in the Indigenous political movement in

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

where it was first heard of in the early 1980s. As of 2022 Bolivia and

Ecuador Ecuador, officially the Republic of Ecuador, is a country in northwestern South America, bordered by Colombia on the north, Peru on the east and south, and the Pacific Ocean on the west. It also includes the Galápagos Province which contain ...

are constitutionally defined as plurinational states. Proposals for plurinationalism have also been heard in

Argentina Argentina, officially the Argentine Republic, is a country in the southern half of South America. It covers an area of , making it the List of South American countries by area, second-largest country in South America after Brazil, the fourt ...

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

Costa Rica Costa Rica, officially the Republic of Costa Rica, is a country in Central America. It borders Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the northeast, Panama to the southeast, and the Pacific Ocean to the southwest, as well as Maritime bo ...

, and

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

. Plurinational states are similar to

multinational state A multinational state or a multinational union is a sovereign entity that comprises two or more nations or states. This contrasts with a nation state, where a single nation accounts for the bulk of the population. Depending on the definition of ...

s, but are particularly often advocated for by

indigenous peoples There is no generally accepted definition of Indigenous peoples, although in the 21st century the focus has been on self-identification, cultural difference from other groups in a state, a special relationship with their traditional territ ...

Current

Bolivia

In 2009, Bolivia adopted a constitution that renamed the country to the "Plurinational State of Bolivia", as spearheaded by

Evo Morales Juan Evo Morales Ayma (; born 26 October 1959) is a Bolivian politician, trade union organizer, and former cocalero activist who served as the 65th president of Bolivia from 2006 to 2019. Widely regarded as the country's first president to come ...

. Formerly, it was called the "Republic of Bolivia". Later, in 2010, Morales proclaimed January 22nd to be "Plurinational State Day", an annual holiday; it coincides with the day Morales took power in 2006.

Ecuador

In September 2008,

Rafael Correa Rafael Vicente Correa Delgado (; born 6 April 1963) is an Ecuadorian politician and economist who served as the 45th president of Ecuador from 2007 to 2017. The leader of the PAIS Alliance political movement from its foundation until 2017, Corr ...

introduced a new constitution that described Ecuador as a "Plurinational and Intercultural State". The new constitution also recognized 11 indigenous groups within the country. The concept of Ecuador becoming a plurinational state was previously proposed in 1988.

Proposed

Argentina

Since 1986, Argentina has been home to an annual meeting for activists to discuss gender-based inequality. In 2022, the name was changed from the "National Women's Meeting" to the "Plurinational Meeting" (though ''two'' events, one under each name, were held that year). In 2023, only the "Plurinational Meeting" was held, which was in the city of Bariloche.

Chile

In Chile constitutional plurinationalism has been a topic of debate. Plurinationalism was not a concept in the constitutional reforms proposed by Michelle Bachelet's second government (2014–2018), yet the proposed reforms included recognition of Chile's indigenous peoples. The 2022 proposed Political Constitution of the Republic of Chile defined Chile as "plurinational", however this proposal was rejected by a large margin in September 2022. Prior to the dismissal of the proposed constitution the issue of pluranationalism was noted by polls and ''

El País (; ) is a Spanish-language daily newspaper in Spain. is based in the capital city of Madrid and it is owned by the Spanish media conglomerate PRISA. It is the second-most circulated daily newspaper in Spain . is the most read newspaper in ...

'' as particularly divisive in Chile. The creation of a "plurinational region" in southern Chile has been proposed by some scholars and activists as a solution to the

Mapuche conflict The Mapuche conflict () involves indigenous Mapuche communities, known by the foreigners as the Araucanians, located in Araucanía and nearby regions of Chile and Argentina. The first attack, marking the beginning of the period of violence i ...

. Plurinationalism has been criticized by José Rodríguez Elizondo as being used to advance Bolivian claims against

for sovereign access to the Pacific Ocean.

Costa Rica

In August 2014, lawmakers in Costa Rica approved a first round vote for a bill that would describe the country as "multiethnic and plurinational" within the Constitution of Costa Rica.

Guatemala

, plurinationalism has been championed by Comité de Desarrollo Campesino and the Maya Waqib’ Kej National Convergence. In the Agreement on Identity and Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the government of Guatemala committed to reforms to recognize the

Maya peoples Maya () are an ethnolinguistic group of Indigenous peoples of the Americas, Indigenous peoples of Mesoamerica. The ancient Maya civilization was formed by members of this group, and today's Maya are generally descended from people who lived w ...

, the

Garifuna The Garifuna people ( or ; pl. Garínagu in Garifuna) are a people of mixed free African and Amerindian ancestry that originated in the Caribbean island of Saint Vincent and traditionally speak Garifuna, an Arawakan language. The Garifuna ...

, and the Xinka people and also reframe the country in the Constitution of Guatemala as being "of national unity, multi-ethnic, multicultural and multilingual". No such reforms have ever happened to date.