Ius Humani. Law Journal

To make Politics a science: Epistemological Approaches

2024-03-02T16:55:27-05:00

Nowadays, empirical knowledge – based on observation and verification of facts – is considered the highest criterion of validation in science. This has led to the overshadowing of other types of knowledge that are not based on empirical evidence, considering them as speculative or vulgar. This dogmatic attitude has radically modified the research activity, generating distrust in disciplines that do not follow the scientific method, particularly harming the social science. Given these limitations, this work advocates the need to approach knowledge from a broader and more holistic perspective, which favors the approach of the findings of the social science to the construction of a more assertive science. In this sense, we will comment on some of the modern conceptions of the theory of knowledge, trying to guide the reader towards the scientistic perspective and then explain how it has gradually lost credibility in epistemological spheres. In the background and based on the thinking of authors such as the philosopher Karl Popper or the historian Thomas Khun, we will seek to notice how these positions are always inconclusive or reductionist in their desire to understand reality. Finally, we will propose the Aristotelian theory of causality as an epistemological framework for Political Science, to avoid the reduction of knowledge to pre-established concepts and thus enrich human horizons.

Does legal capacity matter for inclusive economic development? Empirical evidence from Southern Africa

2024-03-02T15:24:30-05:00

The legal capacity or, otherwise, the institutions of rule of law (RL), have become a key factor for inclusive economic development, but the main strands of the literature involve theoretically driven expectations. Therefore, the study sought to examine the impact of legal capacity on inclusive economic development in the Southern African Development Community (SADC) region. While extant studies focused on the effect of governance on national output, the present study goes beyond growth by including welfare indicators. The study employed a panel autoregressive distributed lag (ARDL) approach for data from all 16 SADC member states from 1996 to 2019. The interpretation of results and policy implications are based on the outcomes of the pooled mean group (PMG) estimator, which was deemed by the Hausman test as the best and most efficient estimator over the MG and the DFE family of the ARDL panel estimators. The results of the restricted panel reveal that strengthening the institutions of the RL leads to an improvement in inclusive economic development among SADC states. Therefore, we argue that trade laws should be domestically integrated and embedded in SADC’s national laws, and that common courts should be set to adjudicate disagreements over compliance. We also propose that SADC introduce incentives to increase legal stakeholders' participation across the region.

South American regional integration: Does it solely depend on the political convergence of its governments?

2024-03-02T12:47:44-05:00

South American regional integration has been part of the political rhetoric of South America governments since the creation of the first regional organizations in 1969. However, in each subcontinent (Central America, South America, North America), they have established their own systems of integration and governance. In South America, except for the Andean Community of Nations and Mercosur, the rest have had an important political condition, and their strengthening and permanence are related to the political convergence between the governments of the region, because they have the constitutional attributions about the formulation and execution of foreign policy. This article analyzes through the QCA, whether it is indeed the political dimension that effectively explains the promotion, encouragement, and consolidation of regional integration in the subcontinent. For this purpose, two dimensions are proposed: the first is economic, measured through two variables such as complementarity and commercial interdependence, and the political dimension, measured through two variables: ideological distance and whether the promotion of integration is part of the constitutions of each country.

Commercial protectionism as a response to the globalization crisis in the West: Trump and Brexit

2024-03-01T13:17:36-05:00

In recent years, we have witnessed a significant turn towards commercial protectionism as a response to what some perceive as clear discontent provoked by the current process of globalization. Our work will focus on two of the most emblematic events symbolizing this trend: the presidency of Donald J. Trump (2017-2021) in the United States and the Brexit referendum in the United Kingdom. Trump marked a turning point in U.S. trade policy, advocating an "America First" approach that included imposing tariffs and renegotiating international trade agreements. On the other hand, the 2016 Brexit referendum and the subsequent UK's departure from the European Union in 2020 represented a paradigmatic case of regional protectionism. Therefore, we will explore how Brexit affected trade relations between the UK and the EU, as well as its position on the international stage. Along these lines, we will discuss the broader implications of these two dynamics in the context of the globalization crisis: Do these movements pose a sustainable challenge to the existing global economic order, or are they temporary responses to specific issues? What lessons can be drawn from these experiences for the future management of trade conflicts?