LAW IN TRANSITION: CRISIS OF LEGAL MODELS AND IDEOLOGICAL CONSTRUCTIONS

The profound social, economic, cultural, and legal transformations that have affected our societies have led many scholars to speak of a "crisis of law." The feeling is that we are facing a profound, probably epochal, transition, but historically, law has proven not only to survive crises, but also to be one of the best tools for managing and facilitating their resolution. A fundamental role in this revolution must be attributed to the extraordinary advances in technology, primarily information technology. It pervades every sphere and will very likely quickly make humanity and societies very different from what we have known them for the last two thousand years. This sudden transformation, however, is nothing new to humanity, sociology, or even the law, which has demonstrated an extraordinary capacity for adaptation, re-emerging with renewed vigor in the face of the challenges of major cultural, social, political, technological, and economic transformations. It is a law in transition. This paper will attempt to demonstrate that the law, as a tool for managing social crises and conflicts, continues to effectively fulfill its function, albeit with the necessary time to adapt to the processes of globalization. We are therefore not faced with a "crisis of law," nor with its malfunction, but rather with a "crisis of expectations" regarding the law, which appear to have changed and become overly demanding.