Rawls' Theory of Justice

A Democratic Reading from Political Participation in Latin America

Abstract

Objective: this article is a reflection on the possibility of thinking about democratic participation in Latin America, based on Rawls' Theory of Justice. Methodology: at first, some concepts that the North American philosopher proposed in Theory of Justice and Political Liberalism were analyzed. Then, the concepts of democracy and participation were problematized based on reflections from Subirats, De Sousa-Santos and Avritzer. In a third moment, the notion of accountability that O'Donnell uses to think about Latin American democracies was examined. Results: a general evaluation of the basic concepts was made to argue that the idea of the public and the mechanisms of disobedience to unjust laws allow to think critically about democracy in Latin America to ask if it includes the various social actors with their particular struggles and serves as a tool for political control of institutions and governments in multicultural countries. Conclusions: Rawls' political liberalism can be considered as a theoretical starting point that makes it possible to legitimate the demands for participation, if one begins from a model that distances itself from the concept of political representation, in a plural public setting. This cannot be a hegemonic point of arrival, since the exercise of a participatory democracy can only be effective in considering the social actors that are mobilizing and their demands for political inclusion.