Emerging issues in indigenous rights: transformative effects of the recognition of indigenous peoples

The UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples ( 2007) marks a significant shift in the relations whereby indigenous peoples define themselves and their claims. They are now faced with the challenge of implementing international standards within national spaces. By adopting a global comparative perspective, our article aims to explore how this movement unfolds in a variety of local issues and strategies, building transnational links and differences. We first examine the acceptance of indigenous peoples' status across the globe before exploring the transformative effects of recognition around two major themes, indigenous rights to education and to land and natural resources. We argue that the recognition of indigenous peoples as subjects of international law has far-ranging implications for the global system as a whole, implicating other global or transnational agents, and potentially affecting the balance between economic and political powers.