Understanding Justice, Human Rights, and Political Ideologies

Posted on Mar 25, 2025 in Philosophy and ethics

Justice, Human Rights, and Political Ideologies

Justice: Acting in a way that considers what each person deserves contributes to social justice. This is a new way of understanding human and labor relations.

These are human rights claimed by socialist movements. The first human rights proclamations emerged from enlightened and liberal environments in the last third of the 18th century. The most important are: Bill of Rights, Declaration of Independence from the U.S., Declaration of Human Rights and Citizen. All of them appealed to equality, freedom, and the dignity and principle that all human beings are equal and should enjoy the same rights.

As and when they proclaim: After the Second World War, the victors convened a meeting to revive the society of nations, creating the UN to replace the previous one (October 24, 1945). Three years later, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was approved.

Features of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights:

  • Universal nature: All humans have the same rights regardless of race, color, or sex.
  • It is an agreement between states with heterogeneous economic, political, and cultural characteristics.
  • It tries to overcome Western ethnocentrism and discrimination, cultural diversity, technology, and ideology of the countries.
  • Inalienable: This means they have a universal application and must reach all.

What are the P. Internacionales?

Documentation prepared by the UN to collect and develop the rights in the UDHR with the intention of the various states to join its laws. Non-governmental organizations (NGO) are relief agencies that consider others, holding their own or private financing (Red Cross, Crescent, Clowns Without Borders, Doctors Without Borders).

Generations of Human Rights:

  • First Generation: Freedom, independence arising from the U.S. and France. They try to defend freedom, individual liberty, integrity of people, and the right to human integrity.
  • Second Generation: From the 19th century, labor movements as social development, economic and cultural solidarity.
  • Third Generation: At the end of the 20th century, the UN realized the great differences between the two countries and others, individual economic and social rights, including access to healthy environments, economic and cultural rights, and the right to live in peace.

Under human rights is respect for the dignity of all persons before the law and society.

Human Society: The capacity humans have to do everything by themselves.

Animal Society: Nature does it all for them, order, structure, relatives of the instincts.

Politics: The art, science, and activities related to organizing and governing human societies.

Political Ideology: A set of ideas and beliefs, biases and prejudices, customs and traditions, preferences, principles, and rules relating to society and the state governments.

Ethnocentrism in Politics: Tendency to neglect the customs, values, principles, ideas, and beliefs of other cultures; the same will be true with politics.

Power and Authority

Having a large number of situations where an individual has the capacity to exercise control, conduct, or order actions of other individuals or groups to exercise power.

Authority: Power over others determined by law and social norms.

Types of Authority:

  • Traditional authority: Based on custom and past practice.
  • Charismatic authority: Based on admiration and enthusiasm.
  • Legal-rational authority: Based on the will of the people and the laws.

Rule of Law

Requires that laws and judgments of laws are adequate to the moral principles and values of a democratic society, respecting human rights and dignity of people.

Rule of Law is Composed of:

  1. A Constitution: The fundamental law of a state; every law must be in accordance with the constitution. It is a legal framework that establishes the basic principles of organization of society.
  2. Division of power: Legislative power is vested in the Parliament (House and Senate), judicial power (judges, prosecutors, judges), and executive power lies in the government (president and ministers).
  3. Political participation: Unions, parties, associations, elections.
  • Right of association
  • Right to demonstrate
  • Election participation can be: institutionalized, such as political parties, non-institutionalized, exercised by the free will of citizens.

Political Choices: The free choice of citizens in choosing their leaders.

Referendum: The question for the government to consult.