núm. 18 (2015): revista via iuris 18 (enero - junio)

The current text wants to solve the question: ¿how the protection of freedom is presented through criminal law in abstract right? The question is being addressed, using as the main theoretical referral to G. W. F. Hegel´s and his book called “Fundamentals of the Philosophy of Right” and utilizing hegelian dialectics as the method for research and understanding purposes. The text concludes that ensuring the realization of freedom is the purpose of abstract right, and that for this is necessary to turn to coercion represented in criminal law, which implies accessing a vision of Retributive Justice, that intends to legally punish someone who, through crime, denies a “free and universal will” in a violent way, making that through the penalty, “free will” be denied to the criminal. From these ideas, the text concludes that punishment´s measure and compensation lead to the appearance of a right of disciplinary nature that restores the violated rights. It also concludes, that the influence of Hegelian thought in criminal contemporary law is evident, specifically in the Theory of Objective Attribution.

This working paper shows how Colombian people defined Democracy as a way of Government during the first decade of the current century, following the types proposed by Michael Coppedge. To achieve this purpose, data from Latinobarometer available in its web site were selected. First, the following pages expose the reviewed different types of Democracy presented by Coppedge, to identify its different meanings as self-government. Second, the answers given by Latinobarometer respondents were selected, according to the types and criteria mentioned in the first part. Then, these data were analyzed to recognize the factors that have more influence in the way Colombians constructed its Democracy notions. Results were analyzed using Pearson Correlation and tools given by basic descriptive stats. Finally provisory conclusions are described taking into account data analyzed, the pertinence of the conceptual framework, and possible perspectives of analysis in the future.