Le Parole Della Modernizzazione Latinoamericana: Centro, Periferia, Individuo e Ordine (The Words of Latin-American Modernization: Center, Periphery, Individual, Order)

Alessandro Somma 

University of Ferrara - Law Department
October 31, 2012

Max Planck Institute for European Legal History No. 2012-05 
Abstract:      
Latin-American legal systems are often classified as a periphery of the Western legal tradition, that part of the democratic and capitalist world whose center is represented by Europe and the US. Such a classification is ideologically oriented, since it aims at considering modernization from an evolutionist point of view, supported by a methodology enhancing ethnocentric approaches.

Assuming the idea of alternative or multiple modernities, one can consider the Latin-American development of capitalism and democracy as combined with indigenous identity, and conceive the Latin-American legal tradition as characterized by a mixture of western and chthonic elements. The result is a tradition based both on individual emancipation and communitarian tensions, involving a responsible relationship with the environment and the democratic embeddedness of economy. Such a tradition leads to a balanced relationship between individual and order, since it is able to oppose the functionalizing tensions produced by the proprietary order if capitalism prevails over democracy.

Note: Downloadable document is in Italian.

Number of Pages in PDF File: 27

Keywords: center, periphery, individual, order

Full text available at: http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=2169420