Política social compensatoria y justicia general

Abstract

This article is the result of a research project whose objective was to analyze the current problems regarding the consequences for the common good of the implementation, in Colombia, of the so-called compensatory social policy. In development of this form the social policy, the State assumes responsibility for the structural injustice that the country is experiencing and that affects the less favored sectors, in such a way that it endorses the obligation to supply its basic needs. The hypothesis raised is that such a way of advancing social policy affects general justice, that is, that form of justice considered by the classical realist tradition -the theoretical framework on which this analysis is based- essential for the achievement of the common political good. According to this form of justice, the members of the community have the obligation to contribute to the good of the social whole through the experience of a series of values of coexistence such as order, peace and solidarity; if this does not happen, a form of injustice arises that structurally affects social life. Methodologically the article starts from the description of the problem that derives from the implementation of the compensatory social policy in Colombia; then, it develops the concept of general justice as a criterion of judgment that allows confronting the problem with some values that integrate the common good. These analyzes allow to outline, throughout the text, some alternatives of solution to the problem described and that, in turn, open spaces for reflection on the relationship between the individual and the State, as a politically organized community.