Law and the inexorability of politics
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.12662/2447-6641oj.v24i45.6532.pe6532.2026Keywords:
philosophy of law, political philosophy, neoconstitutionalism, legal positivism, political justiceAbstract
Background: This article examines the relationship between law and politics through the thought of Luis Fernando Barzotto, especially his critique of legal positivism and neoconstitutionalism. The study is grounded on the premise that politics is an inexorable dimension of communal life and a necessary condition for the institutional determination of justice.
Objective: To investigate to what extent contemporary conceptions of law contribute to concealing the political dimension of judicial decisions, as well as to analyze the possibility of recovering the classical notion of “political justice” as the foundation of the authority of positive law.
Method: The research adopts an analytical and reconstructive approach based on bibliographical review and critical interpretation of authors in legal and political philosophy, especially Hans Kelsen, Carl Schmitt, Ronald Dworkin, Robert Alexy, and Luis Fernando Barzotto.
Results: The study argues that neoconstitutionalism promotes a depoliticization of law by replacing institutional and deliberative disputes with an alleged principled rationality exercised by courts. It also argues that Kelsenian positivism, despite its methodological limitations, preserves the perception of the institutional and authoritative dimension of law by recognizing the exercise of political power within judicial activity.
Conclusions: The article concludes that a proper understanding of the relationship between law and politics requires acknowledging the inevitability of institutional and communal mediation in the determination of justice. Recovering the classical notion of political justice makes it possible to understand positive law not as a negation of morality, but as a contingent and authoritative expression of the political life of the community.
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Copyright (c) 2026 Bruno Irion Coletto, Pedro da Silva Moreira
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