This chapter analyzes the relationship between some of the most important progressive judicial decisions of the Colombian Constitutional Court and the political struggles of social movements that in one way or another benefited from those decisions. The aim of the chapter is to show how and under what circumstances the progressive jurisprudence of the Colombian Constitutional Court has concentrated on the articulation of emancipatory social practices in some social movements.

The chapter starts with a brief illustration of theoretical developments concerning the question of social transformation through law and, more particularly, through judicial decisions. In a second part, the authors analyse the social and political context that has surrounded the Colombian Constitutional Court since its creation in 1992, giving an account of its notable political importance in an institutional context of fragmentation and lack of State hegemony.

Next, the chapter analyzes four cases related to the Court's progressive judicial decisions: indigenous peoples, unions, debtors, and the gay movement. For the study of each of these cases the chapter gives an account of detailed empirical investigations that have attempted to determine the legal and political awareness of the social actors.

Once these cases and their respective jurisprudences are explained, the chapter explores the conditions under which the Court can achieve a greater credibility and efficacy. Such efficacy is primarily political in character. As a matter of fact, the Court has an effect on social movements when it manages to instill the idea in actors and leaders that they have rights and that the struggle to achieve them is not only legitimate but also possible. The chapter ends with some conclusions intended to give a general view of the emancipatory capacity of the relation between progressive constitutional jurisprudence and social actors in Colombia.