Political Power: Origins, Legitimacy, and Human Rights

Political Power

Political power encompasses the various forms of influence that shape human behavior within a political community. It is an essential element of any such community and represents the socially accepted power integrated into an established order, deriving from a higher authority.

Authority vs. Power

Authority, distinct from power, signifies the demonstrated knowledge possessed by an individual rather than their actual or effective power.

Characteristics of Political Power

• Beneficial
• Orders individual behaviors
• Coercive
• Limited

The distribution and limitation of political power give rise to different political systems.

Mechanisms of Control and Self-Restraint

• Rule of law
• Recognition and assurance of dignity, freedom, and human rights
• Limitations on power control techniques (political, religious, and social)
• Existence of elections
• Structured, governed, and limited by law, pursuing specific purposes

Legitimacy of Political Power

Legality, a legal concept, refers to conduct conforming to existing state-issued laws. Positivization comprises the legal steps taken by competent state institutions to enact positive law or the rule of law.

Characteristics of Positive Law

• Conventional Origin: Arises from consensus among people
• General Bindingness: Applies to all citizens
• Enforceability: Applied by constraining institutions; the state holds a monopoly on legitimate force

Natural Law

Discoverable through reason and individual conscience, the set of natural laws forms natural law.

Classical Concept of Justice

Ulpian defined justice as the combination of three principles: 1) honest living; 2) not harming others; 3) giving each their due.

Types of Justice

• Commutative Justice: Regulates relations between citizens, emphasizing covenants and respect for private property.
• Distributive Justice: Governs relations between society and the public, focusing on society's obligations to individuals (social justice).
• Legal Justice: Addresses the relationship between citizens and society, both within and outside legal frameworks.

Origin of Political Power

Two main perspectives address the origin and foundation of political power and the state:

Natural Contractualism

• A universal and immutable natural law exists within human beings.
• Sociability is an essential human dimension.
• State organization and law should respect natural law, reflecting human nature.
• Law should address social and historical circumstances.
• Political power's natural source has a transcendent foundation.
• Agreements between humans are a natural consequence of human existence.

Conventional Contractualism

Attributes the origin of the state and political power to a covenant or agreement where individuals cede rights to the state to ensure social order.

Human Rights

Human rights are legitimate claims based on personal dignity and rational nature.

• Innate and inherent
• Inalienable
• Subject to limitations beyond legal positivization
• Universal

Historical Genesis

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• New Laws of the Indies: Suarez, Vitoria, de las Casas.
• Declaration of the Rights of the good people of Virginia.
• Declaration of the Rights of Man and Citizen.

Depending on the historical moment have been classified into:

• First generation rights. Civil rights and political liberty, property, security and formal equality.
  • Second generation rights. Economic, social and cultural rights.
  • Third generation rights. The rights of globalization.