How laws are interpreted can make a positive difference in de-normalizing violence: Revisiting the Hart-Dworkin debate

Abstract

There are several long standing and interesting efforts to work for democratization in Latin America, including in public services sectors such as education. This includes notably efforts in which successful developments have drawn on the use of principles that align with post-structuralist discourses and interpretivist traditions in legal adjudication. The analysis presented in this article elaborates on the Hart-Dworkin debate in US legal philosophy and implications of positivist versus interpretivist approaches to legal decisions and education policy for professionals such as teachers in Latin America. The research question pertains to how two distinct approaches of legal interpretation impact the reproduction of cultural and structural forms of violence in societies. As a concrete example of this is discussed the impact that positivist and interpretivist legal traditions have by framing possibilities and limitations in the work of professional practitioners such as teachers. The analysis is contextualized using self-reported descriptive education data from Latin America and the Caribbean. Recent examples of empirical case studies relevant for education governance in Brazil and Chile are also noted. The analysis presented raises a few points about how effective organizations and professionals are constructed as an outcome of how laws are interpreted. This is explained as a contributing factor to normalizing practices in which the broader citizenry is excluded from deliberative practices. Such forms of exclusion have in the context of education been critically defined by scholars as a form of cultural violence. The article concludes by highlighting the role that interpretivist, negotiated and participatory approaches can play in enabling professionals involved in the everyday of citizens in local communities. An example of this is how teachers can work for de-normalizing socio-political forms of violence. Specifically, this article considers the normalization of structural violence that manifests itself in how we conceptualize what is an effective organization and what is the legitimate role of public service representatives such as teachers in de-normalizing structural violence.