Group of Political, Moral and Legal Philosophy of the University of Barcelona
Publications
Estévez Araújo, José A. (Ed.). Law is not what it used to be. Legal transformations in neoliberal globalization, Trotta, Madrid, 2021.
Over the last decades, the world has undergone a process of profound changes that have occurred at breakneck speed. Theses transformations have generated a large number of problems, many of which have not been satisfactorily resolved. In a present dominated by the health crisis, there are also concerns of enormous importance such as the increase in inequality, the economic crisis, climate change, developments in artificial intelligence, the management of our data by digital platforms and the spread of populism.
How have jurists dealt with these problems?
What changes has the law undergone to address them? This book attempts to answer these questions. It consists of a general part that analyzes the transformations that have affected the entire legal field. It also has a special part, made up of a series of texts written by specialists in the various branches of law, in which they reflect on the most important changes in their respective areas. It is a publication aimed at both specialists and those interested in understanding the challenges that law has had to face in recent decades. It is intended to be a useful tool for legal learning and for those who are beginning to enter the labyrinth of research in the file of law.
Links of interest
Last publications
Gimenez Merino, A. (Ed.). The fight against poverty in the labyrinth of governance, Bomarzo, Albacete, 2018.
The European Union has meant a clear shift of power, in particular, a transfer of state power to institutions of the Union. In the case of social policies, in addition to this displacement, there has been a transformation of the way policies are exercised, since the mechanisms of governance operate with different logics that traditional law. In this context, we propose to analyze the effective participation of the agents involved in this new way of carrying out these policies and their perception regarding the institutional framework with which they interact.
Estévez Araújo, José A: The legitimacy of governance, en Bilbeny, Norbert (coord..): Legitimacy and political action, Publicaciones de la Universidad de Barcelona, 2018, pp. 177-200.
Governance is a new form of law production that has become generalized in the world of globalization, although its outputs are not all necessarily legal. The machinery of governance produces huge amounts of law, especially in the European Union. If governance is a very fertile mechanism of legal production nowadays, it is inescapable to make an inquiry about the legitimacy of the legality that it generates. The reason is that governance works differently from representative systems and its advocates consider it more democratic than those. In order to elucidate the question of the legitimacy of governance, the text analyzes its doctrinal foundations and also verifies whether the practice conforms to them.
Ramos Toledano, J., Digital property Internet culture as an object of change, Trotta, Madrid, 2018.
This book critically analyzes the legal institution of intellectual property, a concept widely spread and integrated into most current legal systems.
In order to do so, the historical origin of intellectual property, the technological field in which it has gained importance during the last years and its development and international expansion are examined. All of this with the intention of shedding light on the elements of a legal regulation that, in the last instance, allows the appropriation of goods of cultural content and, therefore, the exclusion of other people from their enjoyment. The final chapter tries to answer the doubts and questions raised by the book, asking if there is an alternative to some of the negative effects of intellectual property.
Ramos Toledano, J., y Nuño de la Rosa, J. "Governance and Social Policies in the EU: Brief Analysis of the Participation of the Third Sector in Spain in the European Semester", Astrolabio. Revista Internacional de Filosofía, nº 20, 2017, 170-178.
The European Union has meant a clear shift of power, in particular a transfer of state power to institutions of the Union. In the case of social policies, in addition to this displacement there has been a transformation of the way policies are exercised, since the mechanisms of governance operate with different logics that traditional law. In this context, we propose to analyze the effective participation of the agents involved in this new way of carrying out these policies and their perception regarding the institutional framework with which they interact.
Estévez Araújo, J. A., and Ramos Toledano, Joan. "The Right Not to Be Poor. The Fight Against Poverty in Spain within the Framework of the Europe 2020 Strategy", Revista de Derecho 22, 2017, 141-159.
This paper tries to analyze policies against poverty undertaken by Spain within the framework of the Europe 2020 strategy. These policies have been applied through governance mechanisms (specifically, the so-called democratic experimentalism), whose effectiveness and legitimacy is at least questionable. To this end, this paper tries to analyze, on one side, the European Semester, which coordinates these policies at an EU level. On the other, various Spanish documents that are part of this process and therefore allow us to assess the levels of democratic effectiveness of this mechanism.
Estévez Araújo, J. A., y Messina, Giovanni (eds.). La democracia en bancarrota (Democracy in bankruptcy), Trotta, Madrid, 2015
"Quiebrocracia" is the term coined by the former Greek Finance Minister Yanis Varoufakis to characterize the regime emerged after the financial crisis of 2008. The quiebrocracia has put the rescue of the broken banks above any other interest. This peculiar form of oligarchy has been made possible by the de-democratization that has led neoliberal globalization. The papers included in this volume analyze these processes, which have led to a democracy in bankruptcy. This analysis is done from two different angles: the sealing of the mechanisms of citizen participation and the growing irresponsibility of the decision-making powers.
Estévez Araújo, J. A. (ed.). El libro de los deberes. Las debilidades e insuficiencias de la estrategia de los derechos (The Book of Duties. Weaknesses and Deficiencies of Rights), Trotta, Madrid, 2013
The Spanish Constitution recognizes the right to a job and to a decent living place. The millions of unemployed people or the thousands of mortgage holders evicted by banks can legitimately raise the following question: 'We have the right to a job and to a decent home, but who has the duty to provide it for us?'.
This book considers that the content of rights are duties, whose purpose is to satisfy the former. A right with no corresponding duty is a right completely empty of content. Compared to the innumerable number of books that analyze the nature or foundation of rights, or the books that establish an enumeration of rights of the people, this book focuses on the duties that correspond those rights. This is why it is not just another book about rights. It is The book of duties.
Estévez Araújo, J. A.; Giménez, A.; Gordillo, J.L.; Madrid, A.; Merelo, J.; Pedrol, X. (eds.). Spatial Development and Citizenship, Ediciones de Intervención Cultural / El Viejo Topo, Barcelona, 2008
This book compiles the speakers’ text and the presentations which were part of the workshops organized by the Philosohpy of Law Group of the University of Barcelona. The realization of these seminars was the core contribution of the group to the project INTER-REG “DEDEL-SSDEC” from 2005-2007.
The document SED (Schéma de Développement de l’Espace Communautaire), which was approved by the informal Council of Ministers responsible for the administration of EU territory, held in Potsdam in May of 1999, was the nucleus that the entire project revolved around.
Capella Hernández, J. R. (ed.). Las sombras del sistema constitucional español (The Shadows of the Spanish Constitutional System, Trotta, Madrid, 2003
Freedoms and rights are the lights of the Constitution. But its light dazzles. This book invites us to reflect without taboos on the political-legal system established by the 1978 Constitution. It makes explicit both the undemocratic political conditions that weigh on the constitutional project and its system of government as well as the limitations placed on the flow of political intervention of an informed citizenry. "The Shadows of the Spanish Constitutional System" outlines a critical analysis of the experience of the functioning of the political system and its unfulfilled promises. It puts in circulation an analytical material that can be fruitful, in the first place, for the people interested in the commons, and does because of the attempt to impose a global imperial order that guarantees the neoliberal policies. The book is also aimed at those who want to understand politics or rethink it. It is written from the conviction that another world is possible.