The legal pluralism as a mechanism for strengthening the human rights agenda

Abstract

Legal monism is an invention of modernity. The state paradigm was born together with the liberal revolutions of the 18th century, and together with the theory of sovereignty, it established a very clear circular discursive relationship: man – this sovereign being born from modern legalism – invents the State and rationally authorizes production. legislation through it, so that laws, coming from a single location, are legitimate because, ultimately, they come from the people. Human rights, in turn, flourish within this same discursive grid. It so happens that, with the advent of globalization, the state paradigm enters into crisis, giving way to a pluralist perspective as a possible new key for reading (post)modernity. In this context, human rights face a mixed-sign equation: while they need to have a common denominator that fits the global world, an effective right for all, they need to respect localities, particularities and local cultural peculiarities. This tension of 'glocal' human rights tends to be resolved through multiculturalism. What is proposed in this text is the way out through legal pluralism, that is, to verify how the post-state paradigm can strengthen human rights, as it recognizes a democratic and multicultural deepening.