The Heart of the Legal Pact: Transcending Political Differences

WRITTEN BY ANNA MADDRICK

Artwork by Alara Acik

It is a fair assumption that people of all demographics, ages and borders take issue with at least one element of the structures that govern them. International, regional and national politics dances between liberalism and conservatism, nationalism and globalism, secularism and religious influence, with citizens all too often caught in the middle.

Some influences feel too great to unroot, too embedded in the fabric of a civilisation. Other societies may feel they have no stability, a carousel of varying societal influxes. Governments and citizens tug and war between notions of progress and tradition. Citizens are often felt feeling like they don’t have a real say and lose trust in the idea of democracy. We are left feeling estranged from ourselves, each other, our governments - let alone international governance!

 Every nation knows this reality in one way or another. It doesn’t help that culture, media and basic human tendencies feed into this polarisation. We have been led to believe there is good and bad, right and wrong, black and white. This leaves us all too often divided in two.

 We therefore find comfort in our political leanings, groups and various identities, all too often categorising other citizens as good or bad based on their shared beliefs or otherwise. We forget that we can have nuances of opinion, different views on different subjects. We forget that politics, media and culture is often misrepresented. We forget the impact of algorithms, confirmation bias, social circles and defaults in education, of poor emotional reasoning in decision-making. We forget that we are all humans experiencing the realities of an often-troubled and complex international order. We remain in division.

Loosing Touch

An unfortunate by-product of the above difficulties is that we lose touch with the structures governing us. We forget what divides different institutions, their respective roles and why these considerations are so important to just about everything we care about. Alongside the ever-present threat of authoritarianism, continued and flagrant breaches of law by governments internationally results in us feeling detached, disillusioned, dismayed. Why should we place our trust in law, the most punitive of all?

Because enforceable rights, and courts fulfilling their constitutional duties under the separation of powers as an independent arbiter, are the cornerstones of our governmental orders. The rule of law, particularly its understanding as detailed in variations of the social contract theory[1], is based on the idea that protection of the collective depends on an institution higher than any man. Under the rule of law – everyone is equal before the law – and it is the purvey of courts to enforce this equality.

The guiding influence of the rule of law, as the philosophical basis of any functioning democracy, is not an “add on” to governance, but a unifying theme. It is the essence of action – ensuring protection of life’s most basic vitalities, for humankind and nature.

The heart of the issue

A common sociological metaphor for society is the human body – representing a complex and intricate machination of mutually dependent parts. If the international community, people and nature, on earth and in space, is similar to a human body, then the heart must be protection of the most basic and vital interests. This heart transcends political differences, uniting us around natural values emanating from natural law.

“Small causes can have large effects, just like the wings of a butterfly can lead to the “butterfly effect” of a hurricane. In the same way, a small action to protect the heart of our international order can have large consequences.

Join with others today who call to protect our global heart with enforceable law for people and nature, on earth and in space.