LAW, ENVIRONMENT, AND DEVELOPMENT

The area of concentration of the PPGD/UFRRJ is structured around two pillars—Environment and Development—which intersect through their distinct interfaces and connections to society, forming an interrelated network mediated by law. The Environment, introduced as an axis of investigation, is constituted from natural, urban-artificial, and historical-heritage perspectives; however, beyond this traditional bias, the Environment assumes, based on a modern and comprehensive view of the space-time relationship, a totalizing perspective that encompasses, at its categorical core, the loci where human beings live. This broadening of focus allows distinct social groups or clusters to gain relevance in its conceptual framework and, consequently, to become objects of study.

The Environment, as the spatial context in which human life in its various aspects unfolds, generates and shapes social and legal phenomena. This perspective sheds light on the proper understanding of the Environment as a legal-philosophical category necessary for constructing a broad and critical understanding of the different ways in which law emerges, is applied, and is modified. In this sense, while on the one hand the Environment, as a category of human-investigative thought, encompasses nature, historical and cultural heritage, and the so-called urban or artificial environment, on the other hand, it encompasses the family, business organizations, underserved communities, and even prisons as sites of human experience. The introduction of the Environment as the central theme of the area of concentration enhances legal research by making it materially interrelated.

Other words, the traditional logic—centered on fragmented approaches to the study of each individual source of legal relations—is reversed, so that the common element underlying all the different forms of the emergence, realization, and negation of law is taken as the starting point for scientific inquiry: namely, spatiality. There is no law outside the space-time relationship. Understanding the dynamism of the concept of Environment requires its interrelation with that of Development. Both are inextricably linked to society. The human element is introduced through the concept of society, which, on the one hand, is directly linked to the relationships established among the individuals who comprise it, and on the other, consists of a wide range of relationships, which requires an understanding of its dynamism.

By focusing on the concept of development and linking it to factors related to improvements in indicators of social well-being and sustainability, we can engage in a dialogue with the very idea of human development, which—despite its necessary and evident dependence on investment in a given context— is essentially notable for establishing the necessary link to the goals of improving the quality of life for members of a given society. Development must be understood as synonymous with freedom, which relates it to the process of expanding actual freedoms; it is, therefore, a concept that is both instrumental and teleological, and should be interpreted as sustainability, environmental freedom, economic freedom, and political-civic freedom. It is important to understand that respect for democratic guarantees and commitments is one of its underlying principles.

All these forms of freedom are realized through social opportunities, transparency, and political and democratic participation, as well as through minimum guarantees of social security and protection against any form of intolerance, prejudice, exclusion, or physical, moral, legal, cultural, economic, labor-related, or family-related violence. Development as freedom takes into account the humanization of the most diverse policies, serving to achieve, enforce, enjoy, and defend fundamental rights in the most varied settings where social relations unfold.

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RESEARCH FIELD: ENVIRONMENT, SUSTAINABILITY, AND DEVELOPMENT: CHALLENGES IN GOVERNMENT REGULATION AND THE ENFORCEMENT OF CONSTITUCIONAL RIGHTS

This research focus views law as an instrument of state intervention and regulation in social life and relates it to the three classical perspectives on the environment: natural, urban-artificial, and historical-heritage and cultural. Regardless of the space-time relationship in which a given society is constituted and exists, law inevitably emerges—even if through unwritten or informal practices—as an instrument for regulating social practices by imposing and prohibiting certain paths and establishing guiding principles for human conduct, responsibilities, and punitive measures. The triangulation between Environment, Sustainability, and Development must be conceived through the collective construction of a socio-environmental responsibility that, in its multiple manifestations, serves as a connecting instrument between the citizens of a given society and the social aspiration toward the construction of a balanced, sustainable, and developed environment. It is through a set of principles grounded in environmental preservation and the active participation of citizens in the formulation of developmental public policies and the establishment of regulatory legal frameworks capable of providing a balanced combination of the realization of fundamental rights, development, and environmental preservation that a harmonious relationship between Development, Environment, and Sustainability must be built.

This field of research is formed by bringing together ongoing research projects conducted by the tenured faculty members who comprise it. Although each of these projects has its own unique aspects, they are all connected through one or more categories that make up the field, thereby creating an interconnection among the research projects, since all of them investigate and address issues related to the Environment and/or Development based on the role of the State as a regulatory agent and/or as an entity obligated to proclaim, establish, and guarantee the means and methods capable of ensuring and realizing fundamental rights. From a broad perspective, it is evident that the research line and the projects aim to address the following questions: What should be understood by development? How can a value scale be established, and which instruments allow for a balanced equilibrium between Development and environmental protection? What levels of environmental intervention are acceptable? How should sustainability be understood? What should be the regulatory role of the State in building a balance between the environment and development? Which state instruments, along with their capabilities and limitations, enter into this tense relationship? How can forms of accountability and sanctions be established? How can promotional initiatives at the national and international levels contribute to sustainable development? What are the potential benefits and limitations of using investments in regulation as a tool? How do fundamental rights emerge, take shape, and materialize within the framework of the environment and sustainable development?

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RESEARCH FIELD: SOCIAL DEVELOPMENT, CONSTRUCTION OF CITIZENSHIP, AND OVERCOMING INEQUALITIES IN MULTIPLE CONTEXTS

This research field places the various forms of social development at the center of scientific inquiry, with the aim of examining the extent to which citizenship is realized and, consequently, fundamental rights are upheld. The diverse contexts of life in society become the subject of legal research based on the specific environments in which they occur. In the post-1988 period, the concept of citizenship took on a much broader meaning, signifying the people’s participation in political life and, above all, in the distribution of goods and services provided by the State. Therefore, citizenship represents the status of a citizen assumed by a human being who is a member of a democratic state governed by the rule of law and who is in full exercise and enjoyment of their fundamental rights, whether first-generation rights that allow them to participate in civil and political life, but also second-generation rights related to the realization of social, economic, consumer, labor, and cultural rights, or third-generation rights based on the idea of solidarity and transindividuality and related to rights connected to development, the environment, and communication.

In fact, the evolution of humanistic understanding has already led us to include fourth-generation rights—and, for some, even fifth-generation rights—in this foundational list of citizens’ rights. This fourth generation includes the rights to democracy, information, and pluralism, which are connected through the axiological-normative principle of human dignity. Over the past decade, this principle has brought about profound changes in issues of gender and identity—that is, it has introduced the right to be. On the other hand, the fifth generation—specifically the right to peace—can be addressed in conjunction with third-generation rights or autonomously, as a minority of scholars do. However, regardless of the classification adopted, the central point lies in the construction, implementation, and legal framework for the exercise of full citizenship as synonymous with the realization of the individual’s fundamental rights.

Researchers working in this field investigate issues related to fundamental rights across the entire generational spectrum; thus, their research scope includes issues related to violence and the exercise of state punitive power, gender, health, social security, labor relations, and family relations, among others. All major lines of research converge to provide insights into the cultural, political, and legal determinants that define the social role of the law and its impact on the development of society. Among its objectives is the study of non-property legal relationships, addressing issues that directly concern the human person in their life in society, as well as exploring the new contours of property legal relationships, according to an approach that transcends the traditional dichotomy between public law and private law.

This field of research comprises disciplines and a collection of ongoing research projects at UFRRJ that are linked by a shared vision of building citizenship as the ultimate goal of social development—one capable of recognizing, safeguarding, and realizing social rights in the various contexts of collective human coexistence. Questions and issues regarding the construction of citizenship emerge: How should we understand social development? What is citizenship, and how is it realized today? Are citizenship and fundamental rights interchangeable concepts? How can we understand and implement the idea of social justice? What are the best practices and techniques for resolving and mediating social conflicts? What are the legal and economic frameworks of a socially developed society? How can we recognize and address issues of gender and identity? What are the current perspectives on second-generation social rights, such as the fundamental right to health? How can we limit and control the punitive power of the state?