This dissertation discusses ways to advance social rights, considering the significant gap between their ambitious normative recognition and their poor implementation in practice. It presents some of the challenges that social rights typically face and explores ways to overcome them, noting the role that courts can play in triggering solutions. The project zooms into the connection between social rights and administrative institutions to argue that, while often under-discussed, social rights’ fulfillment is largely dependent on administrative law and administrative action. The dissertation further claims that “canonical” administrative law, however, is unfit to facilitate the fulfillment of social rights and discusses possible ways to rethink discrete administrative institutions. While the dissertation focuses on Latin America, its arguments are of relevance for other parts of the world. The project is structured around two case studies of social rights litigation in Argentina (Chapter 2) and Colombia (Chapter 3), which triggered relevant innovations that can help respond to frequent challenges around social rights. Both cases involve similar circumstances of historical unfulfillment of human rights, particularly the rights to a healthy environment, health, and housing. They also illustrate similar capacity constraints in relevant administrative institutions (such as norms and staff volatility and bureaucratic fragmentation). Both cases represent what has been often called “structural litigation ” and were decided in similar legal backgrounds. The case studies are as detailed as possible, in an effort to supplement long standing theoretical debates on social rights with a nuanced analysis of the results of cases on the ground (as even though recent research has focused on empirical assessments, most relevant scholarship uses normative and doctrinal approaches ). The research conducted for this project therefore involved reviewing judicial records, legislation, press coverage and other secondary sources; and for the Argentine case, talking to public officials, judicial employees, non-governmental organizations, and other key actors, visiting the river basin and courts’ offices, and filing freedom of information requests. My research perspective is also informed by my previous work with different non-governmental organizations devoted to advancing social rights. I therefore came to this project with practical knowledge of how relevant institutions, mainly in Argentina, function in practice, with the consequent subjectivity of a practitioner from the Global South. The dissertation connects to existing literature on social rights and on the reform of administrative law. It also speaks, more indirectly, to ongoing conversations on effective government, State capacity, the growth of the administrative state, and structural litigation. Throughout the dissertation, I use a common analytical framework: experimentalism. I describe this framework in detail in the Introduction to this dissertation. When confronted with existing scholarship, the dissertation shows that many concerns around social rights in general, and social rights’ litigation in particular, do not necessarily play out in practice as traditional literature would anticipate. For example, the case studies prove that litigation does not necessarily exclude more confrontational alternatives for rights-claiming, and that middle class plaintiffs are not always prioritized in courts’ work. Both cases essentially show a decision-making model that is court-led but places responsibilities for policy making on local administrations. Under this model, courts set goals that administrations then need to pursue by themselves, with strong court oversight. As such, the model moves beyond the dichotomy between judicial abdication and judicial usurpation that traditional literature routinely describes. Traditional models of social rights adjudication also suggest a stark division between approaches based on the substance of rights and other based on procedures that the dissertation proves to be more nuanced, as in the case studies courts define some substance of rights, but also set strong procedures directed precisely at further defining rights’ substance. Importantly, this alternative model shows how courts intervention can lead to improved institutional capacities (directed mainly at increasing transparency and coordination) in responsible administrative entities. The cases finally show the barriers that traditional administrative law can create for the innovations needed to advance social rights. The last Chapter of the dissertation consequently explores ways to reimagine administrative law, to promote principles and institutions which are more aligned with the demands of social rights, such as recognizing informal administrative action and promoting administrative coordination.

This thesis intends to demonstrate the radical potential of rights. I argue that rights are capable, on the one hand, of challenging capitalist social relations and the liberal legal order which sustains those relations, and, on the other hand, of constituting a new political system. I argue that without reconceptualising rights in this manner, we are unable to comprehend certain social movements which employ the language of rights for challenging the existing systems and for articulating transformative visions of a new world. This thesis suggests that we need to rethink rights as political alliances and agreements and rights-claims as political proposals between co-citizens. Here, the content of rights is formulated through a political action of the rights-holders themselves, as opposed to being derived from the pre-political sphere. Furthermore, I argue that our understanding of the scope of these political proposals and, hence, our understanding of the nature of the new order that rights can potentially constitute, depends on the way we conceptualise the conflictual dimension of rights-claims. It is the notion of a rights-claim as a challenge to the constituted order, as opposed to a petition to be included within that order, which captures how rights inaugurate a radical discursive space where potentially transformative political proposals regarding the matters of collective life can be made. Throughout this thesis I refer to a transnational movement of peasants, La Via Campesina, which fights for a new socio-political arrangement where ‘feeding the world’ is the end in itself rather than a dictate of the capitalist market. Crucially, this movement makes extensive use of the language of rights and of ‘the right to food’ in particular. I argue that it is only the radical theory of social rights constructed in this thesis that allows us to analyse the transformative core of the movements like this one.

Tez (Doktora) - Süleyman Demirel Üniversitesi, Sosyal Bilimler Enstitüsü, Kamu Yönetimi Anabilim Dalı, 2008. / Kaynakça var.

The right to belong and participate in some form of political community is the most fundamental social right there is. This dissertation argues that social rights have not been understood broadly enough, that there has not been enough attention paid to their historical roots, and that they must not be viewed as being simply passive welfare rights. Rather, they must be seen in their historical context, and they must be seen for what they are: a much larger and more substantive phenomenon than what liberal theory has projected: both theoretically and empirically. I am calling this body of discourse “the social citizenship tradition.” This dissertation hopes to show that there was more than one definition of social citizenship historically and that social rights are certainly not “new.” In surveying a vast literature in Britain, the United States, and Canada, it points to places where alternative social rights claims have entered politics and society. By looking at writings from these three countries over three centuries, the evidence points to some similarities as well as differences in how scholars approached questions of economic and social rights. In particular, similar arguments over labour and property figured prominently in all three countries. The contextual ground of right was different in each country but the voice of social action was similar. The objective here is to reunite this common tradition of social citizenship with its past. It is because of classical liberalism that social right has lost focus and power, and a whole tradition of political thinking has been lost.This tradition has been narrowed to the point that it might be unrecognizable to the more radical forces, those who also fought for it, in the American, Canadian and British pasts.

The right to belong and participate in some form of political community is the most fundamental social right there is. This dissertation argues that social rights have not been understood broadly enough, that there has not been enough attention paid to their historical roots, and that they must not be viewed as being simply passive welfare rights. Rather, they must be seen in their historical context, and they must be seen for what they are: a much larger and more substantive phenomenon than what liberal theory has projected: both theoretically and empirically. I am calling this body of discourse “the social citizenship tradition.” This dissertation hopes to show that there was more than one definition of social citizenship historically and that social rights are certainly not “new.” In surveying a vast literature in Britain, the United States, and Canada, it points to places where alternative social rights claims have entered politics and society. By looking at writings from these three countries over three centuries, the evidence points to some similarities as well as differences in how scholars approached questions of economic and social rights. In particular, similar arguments over labour and property figured prominently in all three countries. The contextual ground of right was different in each country but the voice of social action was similar. The objective here is to reunite this common tradition of social citizenship with its past. It is because of classical liberalism that social right has lost focus and power, and a whole tradition of political thinking has been lost.This tradition has been narrowed to the point that it might be unrecognizable to the more radical forces, those who also fought for it, in the American, Canadian and British pasts.

Submitted by Edileide Reis (leyde-landy@hotmail.com) on 2013-04-15T12:29:38Z No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabio.pdf: 5191606 bytes, checksum: fa769fe56e425e483e315f8369d7c2c9 (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Rodrigo Meirelles(rodrigomei@ufba.br) on 2013-05-09T17:45:19Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabio.pdf: 5191606 bytes, checksum: fa769fe56e425e483e315f8369d7c2c9 (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2013-05-09T17:45:19Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 Fabio.pdf: 5191606 bytes, checksum: fa769fe56e425e483e315f8369d7c2c9 (MD5) Previous issue date: 2009 / Trata o presente trabalho dissertativo da possibilidade de atuação do poder judiciário no controle de políticas a fim de contribuir para a maior efetividade dos direitos sociais. A atual constituição brasileira é marcada pelo caráter dirigente expresso em normas definidoras da atuação do estado em face dos direitos fundamentais dos cidadãos. Não obstante a relevância dos direitos sociais outorgados pela carta constitucional a eficácia jurídica das normas a estes relativas é reduzidas por uma visão conservadora do seu caráter programático. Após 20 anos de sua promulgação o desafio da efetividade destes direitos se impõe de forma cada vez mais urgente exigindo-se uma nova conformação do estado e do poder judiciário. Neste diapasão o principal objetivo do presente estudo é verificar a possibilidade de valorização destas normas pela atuação judicial no controle das políticas públicas tendo em vista ser este o meio crucial à sua efetivação. Desta forma as características elementares a tais direitos tidos em sua evolução histórico-constitucional permitem a adoção da hipótese principal de compatibilidade deste controle não só em relação à finalidade discutida como também com a atual conformação do ordenamento jurídico e do estado social. Assim e de acordo com o método hipotético-educativo o teste de “falseamento” da assertiva é procedido a partir da análise das principais objeções que lhe são opostas entre as quais o caráter meramente programático das normas de direitos sociais a separação das funções estatais a discricionariedade administrativa na implementação de tais direitos e a tese da reserva do possível. Para tanto tem-se como marco teórico a teoria dos direitos fundamentais de Robert Alex analisando-se os conflitos principiológicos envolvidos no problema abordado por meio da técnica de sopesamento a fim de garantir a maior efetividade possível dos direitos fundamentais sociais. / Salvador

Submitted by THAMIRIS INOUE RIOS null (thamiris_ir@hotmail.com) on 2017-09-21T00:50:34Z No. of bitstreams: 1 THAMIRIS INOUÉ RIOS (FINALIZADA) PDF.pdf: 1461014 bytes, checksum: 15aad4bd77bfa3f68ca6c3c14739a94d (MD5) / Approved for entry into archive by Monique Sasaki (sayumi_sasaki@hotmail.com) on 2017-09-27T17:54:38Z (GMT) No. of bitstreams: 1 rios_ti_me_fran.pdf: 1461014 bytes, checksum: 15aad4bd77bfa3f68ca6c3c14739a94d (MD5) / Made available in DSpace on 2017-09-27T17:54:38Z (GMT). No. of bitstreams: 1 rios_ti_me_fran.pdf: 1461014 bytes, checksum: 15aad4bd77bfa3f68ca6c3c14739a94d (MD5) Previous issue date: 2017-06-26 / Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES) / O estudo, ora apresentado, tem como objetivo geral analisar a participação do Conselho Municipal dos Direitos do Idoso de Uberaba (CMDI) na efetivação das deliberações oriundas das quatro Conferências Municipais dos Direitos da Pessoa Idosa. E os objetivos específicos foram delineados para conhecer o processo de envelhecer na sociedade capitalista e também sobre os espaços democráticos de lutas sociais; identificar as propostas advindas das quatro Conferências Municipais (2005, 2008, 2011, 2015); analisar as atas das reuniões ordinárias de 2008 a 2016; conhecer as ações empreendidas para efetivação das deliberações oriundas das IV Conferência Municipal dos Direitos da Pessoa Idosa. O método abordado foi o Materialismo Histórico Dialético de Marx, que permitiu apreensão das contradições do movimento real. A pesquisa foi bibliográfica e documental, sendo a abordagem qualitativa. A análise dos dados se deu através da análise de conteúdo. Nesta pesquisa, tecemos algumas considerações teóricas a fim de termos condições de, após apresentar as interpelações dos relatórios e propostas das Conferências, analisar as atas das reuniões ordinárias do CMDI, buscando conhecer as ações empreendidas para efetivação das deliberações oriundas das quatro Conferências Municipais dos Direitos da Pessoa Idosa. Foi perceptível, nas Conferências, devido à incidência de repetições das mesmas propostas, que muitos direitos deliberados não foram efetivados, assim inferimos a baixa resolutividade das leis existentes. Em relação, as reuniões ordinárias do CMDI as discussões e ações estão timidamente relacionadas à questão de violência, transporte/ trânsito, segurança, habitação, renda, saúde e educação, o que nos mostrou, que as propostas oriundas das Conferências não foram discutidas na íntegra nas reuniões ordinárias do CMDI. Neste sentido, o resultado da pesquisa nos permite inferir que faz-se necessário discussões e ações efetivas nas Conferências e no Conselho, visto que a vivência e pauperismo em suas diversas expressões da questão social, tem atingido uma totalidade dos trabalhadores/as idosos/as. Assim, concluímos que nesta sociedade capitalista, a efetivação dos direitos sociais, conquistados ao longo da história, não ocorre devido a ofensiva neoliberal. Fazendo-se necessário uma nova ordem societária, para haver emancipação humana e política. / The purpose of this study is to analyze the participation of the Municipal Council for the Rights of the Elderly in Uberaba (MCRE) to carry out the deliberations of the four Municipal Conference on the Rights of the Elderly. And the specific objectives were outlined to know the process of aging in capitalist society and also the democratic spaces of social struggles; To identify the proposals coming from the four Municipal Conferences (2005, 2008, 2011, 2015); Analyze the minutes of the regular meetings from 2008 to 2016; To know the actions taken to carry out the deliberations of the IV Municipal Conference on the Rights of the Elderly Person. The method used was Marx's dialectical historical materialism, which allowed for apprehension of the contradictions of the real movement. The research was bibliographical and documentary, being the qualitative approach. Data analysis was done through content analysis. The results allowed some conclusions: We set out in this research some theoretical considerations in order to be able, after presenting the interpellations of the reports and proposals of the Conferences, to analyze the minutes of the ordinary meetings of the MCRE, seeking to know the actions undertaken to carry out the deliberations Of the four Municipal Conferences on the Rights of the Elderly. It was perceptible in the Conferences, due to the great incidence of repetitions of the same proposals, that many deliberate rights were not fulfilled, thus we infer the low resolution of the existing laws. In relation to the ordinary meetings of the MCRE the discussions and actions are timidly related to the issue of violence, transportation / traffic, security, housing, income, health and education, which showed us that the proposals from the Conferences were not discussed in full Regular meetings of the MCRE. In this sense, although inconclusive, research allows us to infer that it is necessary to have effective discussions and actions in the Conference and in the Council, since the experience and pauperism in its various expressions of the social question has reached a totality of the elderly / at. Thus, we conclude that in this capitalist society, the realization of social rights, conquered throughout history, does not occur due to a neoliberal offensive. A new societal order was necessary, for human and political emancipation.

Esta dissertação tem o objetivo de analisar a relação entre a eficácia do direito à moradia e o acesso à justiça. A base analítica que subjaz é o paradigma democrático do Direito, enquanto fator legitimador do poder político devido à institucionalização de valores reconhecidos pela sociedade por meio das normas positivadas , e da efetividade dos Direitos Econômicos e Sociais. A complexidade das relações sociais e econômicas que derivam cada tipo de Direitos Econômicos e Sociais demonstra que a efetividade desses direitos demandam ações do Estado que não se limitam à prestação material do bem acolhido na norma constitucional. Para que os Direitos Fundamentais possam ser efetivos contra a arbitrariedade do Estado e de atores privados em obstruir o acesso e fruição dos bens, a dimensão da defesa e proteção dos Direitos Econômicos e Sociais em particular, o direito à moradia se mostra fundamental. Uma observação atenta das disputas entre segmentos vulneráveis da sociedade e poderosas corporações que tomam corpo no espaço urbano (considerando que o acesso à terra é uma oportunidade para gerar grandes lucros) mostra que os conflitos tendem a crescer com anuência do próprio Estado. Este trabalho organiza-se em torno da Análise da norma jurídica pelas qualificadoras: Validade, Justiça, Eficácia e Efetividade, cujo objetivo é a análise dogmática da adequação das normas acolhedoras dos Direitos Fundamentais ao ordenamento jurídico e demonstração da base democrática como fundamento para a legitimidade e validade das normas. A reflexão buscou mostrar a diferenciação entre eficácia jurídica, por um lado, e eficácia social objeto dessa dissertação , por outro. No entanto, a complementaridade entre ambos os institutos jurídicos não é desconsiderada. A Dimensão de defesa e proteção dos Direitos Econômicos e Sociais é discutida com base na observação empírica das relações econômicas implicadas no direito à moradia. Essa dimensão é apresentada como função essencial para o acesso e fruição dos Direitos Fundamentais. A Função Regulatória do Direito é observada na perspectiva da igualdade material atingida por meio da cooperação entre os indivíduos na perspectiva do desenvolvimento econômico e social baseado na distribuição de seus benefícios. O Acesso à Justiça diz respeito ao conceito de acesso ao direito como institucionalização de um processo democrático baseado na igualdade e centrado na participação popular, que possibilita a criação de ambiente propício a uma hermenêutica centrada nas condições materiais dos conflitos levados ao Judiciário. / This dissertation aims at analyzing the correlation between the effectiveness of the right to housing and the access to justice. The analytical underpinning will be the democratic legal paradigm as legitimizing factor of both the political power due to the institutionalization of values recognized by the society via positive norms and the effectiveness of economic and social rights. The complexity of social and economic relations that follows from each type of economic and social rights demands state actions beyond the material provision of the good embodied by the constitutional Law. In order for the fundamental rights to be effective against the arbitrariness of the State and private actors in obstructing access and fruition of goods, the dimension of defense and protection of economic and social rights in particular, the right to housing becomes paramount. An exam of the disputes between vulnerable segments of the society and powerful corporations that take place in the urban arena (considering that access to land is an opportunity for generating great amounts of profit) shows that conflicts tend to escalate through consent given by the State itself. The analysis of the legal norms proposed in this dissertation is centered on the following qualifiers: validation, justice, effectiveness and effectivity. The aim is to offer a dogmatic analysis of the fundamental rights\' embodied norms, proofing their adequacy to the legal system. It will be argued that a democratic basis is the foundation for the legitimation and validity of the norms. These considerations point out the differentiation between legal effectiveness, on the one hand, and social effectiveness which is the subject of this dissertation on the other hand. However, the complementarity between both legal institutions is not dismissed. The dimension of defense and protection of economic and social rights is discussed on the basis of empirical observation of the economic relations implied in the right to housing. This dimension is presented as having an essential role in the access and fruition of fundamental rights. The regulative function of the Law is regarded from the perspective of material equality achieved through cooperation among individuals, in which economic and social development is based on the distribution of goods. Access to justice refers to legal access as institutionalization of a democratic process based on equality and focused on grassroots participation. It fosters the proper conditions for the development of an hermeneutic centered in the material conditions of the conflicts that are taken to the judiciary.

A efetivação dos direitos sociais, inseridos na Constituição Federal de 1988 como direitos fundamentais, em norma de aplicação imediata, é imprescindível para o alcance dos objetivos do Estado brasileiro, declarados no artigo 3º da Carta Constitucional. Ao Estado foi atribuída a tarefa de concretizá-los por meio de políticas públicas. A busca pela efetivação dos direitos sociais, diretamente relacionada ao exercício da cidadania e à atuação dos Poderes Legislativo e Executivo, tem se deslocado para o Poder Judiciário, que tem assumido um importante papel na concretização desses direitos. A própria concepção dos direitos sociais já desafia os aplicadores do direito, porque dependem, para sua concretização, da atuação prestacional do Estado; estão condicionados às restrições orçamentárias e são materializados, por meio de políticas públicas, que se materializam a partir de escolhas políticas. Para o desenvolvimento do controle jurisdicional de políticas públicas de direitos sociais não basta identificar a existência de um direito fundamental social, é necessário que se enfrentem as questões próprias de um direito mutável na sua concretização e execução. É necessário que se conheça a realidade que envolve a adoção de uma determinada política pública e se amplie o campo de cognição além do interesse do autor que reclama a prestação jurisdicional. O presente trabalho traz uma análise sobre o controle jurisdicional de políticas públicas que tratam de direitos sociais, procurando identificar os limites para a atuação jurisdicional e as possibilidades existentes no ordenamento para que esse controle se desenvolva no sentido de contribuir para a efetivação desses direitos de forma coletiva e isonômica, sem que a atuação jurisdicional venha a afrontar o exercício democrático e acabe por invadir a esfera de competência dos demais poderes. / Effective implementation of social rights introduced into the 1988 Federal Constitution as fundamental rights under rules of immediate enforcement, is crucial to ensure attainment of the Brazilian State goals, as stated under article 3 of the Federal Constitution. The State was given the task of turning such rights into actions by means of public policies. Search for effective enforcement of social rights, typically related to the exercise of citizenship and to Legislative and Executive realms of power, has been shifting to the Judiciary, which has been assuming an important role in rendering such rights effective. The very notion of social rights brings challenges to those in charge of applying the Law since enforcement of these rights depend of States actions; they are subject to budget constraints and are turned into actions based on political choices. Development of judicial control on social right-based public policies requires not only identification of a fundamental social right but it also requires addressing of matters of law, the perfecting and enforcement of which are constantly changing. It is necessary to get to know the reality involving selection of a given public policy and to expand such knowledge beyond the specific interests of that plaintiff who seeks relief. This paper brings a review judicial control of public policies addressing social rights and the possibilities available in the existing legal framework to assure that such control develops towards contributing to enforcement of social rights in a collective and equalitarian manner, therefore preventing judicial actions from violating exercise of democracy and ultimately reaching the realm of other powers.

Esta dissertação tem o objetivo de analisar a relação entre a eficácia do direito à moradia e o acesso à justiça. A base analítica que subjaz é o paradigma democrático do Direito, enquanto fator legitimador do poder político devido à institucionalização de valores reconhecidos pela sociedade por meio das normas positivadas , e da efetividade dos Direitos Econômicos e Sociais. A complexidade das relações sociais e econômicas que derivam cada tipo de Direitos Econômicos e Sociais demonstra que a efetividade desses direitos demandam ações do Estado que não se limitam à prestação material do bem acolhido na norma constitucional. Para que os Direitos Fundamentais possam ser efetivos contra a arbitrariedade do Estado e de atores privados em obstruir o acesso e fruição dos bens, a dimensão da defesa e proteção dos Direitos Econômicos e Sociais em particular, o direito à moradia se mostra fundamental. Uma observação atenta das disputas entre segmentos vulneráveis da sociedade e poderosas corporações que tomam corpo no espaço urbano (considerando que o acesso à terra é uma oportunidade para gerar grandes lucros) mostra que os conflitos tendem a crescer com anuência do próprio Estado. Este trabalho organiza-se em torno da Análise da norma jurídica pelas qualificadoras: Validade, Justiça, Eficácia e Efetividade, cujo objetivo é a análise dogmática da adequação das normas acolhedoras dos Direitos Fundamentais ao ordenamento jurídico e demonstração da base democrática como fundamento para a legitimidade e validade das normas. A reflexão buscou mostrar a diferenciação entre eficácia jurídica, por um lado, e eficácia social objeto dessa dissertação , por outro. No entanto, a complementaridade entre ambos os institutos jurídicos não é desconsiderada. A Dimensão de defesa e proteção dos Direitos Econômicos e Sociais é discutida com base na observação empírica das relações econômicas implicadas no direito à moradia. Essa dimensão é apresentada como função essencial para o acesso e fruição dos Direitos Fundamentais. A Função Regulatória do Direito é observada na perspectiva da igualdade material atingida por meio da cooperação entre os indivíduos na perspectiva do desenvolvimento econômico e social baseado na distribuição de seus benefícios. O Acesso à Justiça diz respeito ao conceito de acesso ao direito como institucionalização de um processo democrático baseado na igualdade e centrado na participação popular, que possibilita a criação de ambiente propício a uma hermenêutica centrada nas condições materiais dos conflitos levados ao Judiciário. / This dissertation aims at analyzing the correlation between the effectiveness of the right to housing and the access to justice. The analytical underpinning will be the democratic legal paradigm as legitimizing factor of both the political power due to the institutionalization of values recognized by the society via positive norms and the effectiveness of economic and social rights. The complexity of social and economic relations that follows from each type of economic and social rights demands state actions beyond the material provision of the good embodied by the constitutional Law. In order for the fundamental rights to be effective against the arbitrariness of the State and private actors in obstructing access and fruition of goods, the dimension of defense and protection of economic and social rights in particular, the right to housing becomes paramount. An exam of the disputes between vulnerable segments of the society and powerful corporations that take place in the urban arena (considering that access to land is an opportunity for generating great amounts of profit) shows that conflicts tend to escalate through consent given by the State itself. The analysis of the legal norms proposed in this dissertation is centered on the following qualifiers: validation, justice, effectiveness and effectivity. The aim is to offer a dogmatic analysis of the fundamental rights\' embodied norms, proofing their adequacy to the legal system. It will be argued that a democratic basis is the foundation for the legitimation and validity of the norms. These considerations point out the differentiation between legal effectiveness, on the one hand, and social effectiveness which is the subject of this dissertation on the other hand. However, the complementarity between both legal institutions is not dismissed. The dimension of defense and protection of economic and social rights is discussed on the basis of empirical observation of the economic relations implied in the right to housing. This dimension is presented as having an essential role in the access and fruition of fundamental rights. The regulative function of the Law is regarded from the perspective of material equality achieved through cooperation among individuals, in which economic and social development is based on the distribution of goods. Access to justice refers to legal access as institutionalization of a democratic process based on equality and focused on grassroots participation. It fosters the proper conditions for the development of an hermeneutic centered in the material conditions of the conflicts that are taken to the judiciary.