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Ambivalent Legal Mobilization: Perceptions of Justice and the Use of the Tutela in Colombia

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  01 January 2024

Whitney K. Taylor Open the ORCID record for Whitney K. Taylor [Opens in a new window]
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Abstract

This article explores the relationship between legal consciousness and legal mobilization in the context of constitutional rights in Colombia. Citizens report extremely low confidence in the state and the judiciary, yet hundreds of thousands of Colombians make constitutional rights claims through the acción de tutela procedure each year. Why does profound skepticism of the ability of the judiciary to provide justice and fair treatment seem to coexist with high levels of use of the legal system? How do perspectives on rights and the legal system relate to observed mobilization of the law? Drawing on 74 interviews and an original 310-person survey, this article develops legal consciousness theory, identifying the specific beliefs that encourage or discourage individuals to turn to the courts to make claims to their rights. In the Colombian case, understandings of law and the state encourage the use of the tutela procedure, not due to the realizable promise of the state to protect rights or the majestic power of the law, but because the tutela is understood to be the only mechanism through which citizens can access their rights. In other words, citizens turn to the courts because there is no other alternative.

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Articles
Information
Law & Society Review , Volume 52 , Issue 2 , June 2018 , pp. 337 - 367
Copyright
© 2018 Law and Society Association.

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Footnotes

The author would like to thank Lisa Hilbink, Liz Acorn, Michael Allen, David De Micheli, and Emilio Lehoucq, as well as the anonymous reviewers, for helpful feedback on earlier drafts of this article.

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