Tradizione giuridica occidentale e modernizzazione latinoamericana

Abstract

Latin America, where capitalist and democratic institutions advanced slowly, is usually considered as the periphery of the Western Legal Tradition. However, historical evidence will here be given that even in Europe and North America capitalism often established authoritarian or totalitarian political systems. Moreover, those who describe Latin American capitalism as less developed than the Western one, neglect the fact that underdevelopment was at least partially imposed; they also ignore the fact that, what is meant by underdevelopment, may also be seen as an alternative modernity program. The history and legal history of Venezuela in the first half of the past century shows that deficiencies in democracy were due to theories and practices which were widespread within the Western Legal Tradition; it also offers examples for considering some peculiarities in the development of capitalism as part of an original path to modernity, rather than a bad copy of it.