Toward an Understanding of Aboriginal/Indigenous Rights and Their Impact on Development: An Application of Regulation Theory

This paper explores the relationship between business, society and the developmental aspirations of Indigenous people, whose communities are among the poorest and most marginalized in the world; it explores the emergence, evolution and growing importance of the role that Indigenous rights play in the development of these communities. To do so, the authors examine the interrelationship between Indigenous rights, social capital and entrepreneurial activity. Using regulation theory, we develop several propositions to argue that these conceptual areas can come together to provide insight on how modes of social regulation may be crucial to understanding the pathways available for participation in the global regime of accumulation. The result can be the emergence of a particular mode of development that is aligned with the outcomes sought by the community. From these propositions, the authors argue that the modes of development available are dependent upon multiple levels of societal structures where the degree of localization in the modes of social regulation is central in determining the objectives as well as significant to achieving them.