La visión imperante en el derecho internacional actual concibe los derechos humanos como normas relativas al trato que los Estados brindan a su propia población. Esta posición, que se conoce como la “perspectiva estatista” sobre los derechos humanos, es actualmente resistida por varios autores. En este artículo intentaré defender la perspectiva estatista contra una serie de críticas recientemente formuladas por Cristina Lafont en Isegoría y en otras importantes revistas especializadas. En particular, trataré de probar que, contrariamente a lo que Lafont (...) argumenta, esta perspectiva captura adecuadamente la razón de ser de la práctica contemporánea de los derechos humanos y dispone de recursos para resguardar los intereses de los seres humanos de las nuevas amenazas surgidas en un mundo globalizado. (shrink)

ABSTRACT Pablo Gilabert's book Human Dignity and Human Rights offers a bold and fascinating account of the claim that human rights are grounded in human dignity. I am quite sympathetic to the dignitarian approach articulated in the book and agree with many of its argumentative goals. My critical comments are therefore lodged in the spirit of a family quarrel. I focus on three issues: the relationship between the humanistic and political perspectives on human rights (1), the suitability of the substantive (...) account of human dignity offered in the book to function as the ground of human rights (2) and the plausibility of a sufficientarian interpretation of the aims of human rights practice (3). (shrink)

In this article the author presents a critical review of populism as it has been implemented in recent years in some Latin American countries. The article begins with a description of institutions and international economic and political crises; it then analyzes and criticizes the political alternative as presented by populism. And lastly, it explains the political ideal that derives from a constitutional democracy. The author offers a response that seeks to overcome the choice between national “populism” and international “cosmopolitanism-liberalism” by (...) way of a new reformist perspective at the international level of global governance. The point of departure for this comes from a democratization initiative within the countries undertaken by the nations of Latin America. (shrink)