CAPITALISM, FREEDOM AND CONSTITUTIONAL DEMOCRACY: A CRITICAL ANALYSIS OF SOCIALIST AND PROGRESSIVE CURRENTS FROM THE PERSPECTIVE OF CONSTITUTIONAL LIBERALISM

Abstract

This article analyzes, from the perspective of classical liberal tradition and democratic constitutionalism, currents of socialist orientation—including communism, classical socialism, democratic socialism, and certain strands of contemporary progressivism—comparing them with the capitalist model of economic and social organization. It argues, based on representative authors of liberal thought (Locke, Smith, Hayek, Friedman, Popper, Berlin) and contemporary critical literature, that the preservation of individual liberty, private property, free enterprise, and the market economy constitutes a relevant—though not sufficient in isolation—condition for human development, institutional stability, and the realization of fundamental rights. It argues that capitalism, understood as an institutional market order under the rule of law, expresses legal recognition of the autonomy of the human person, insofar as it enables the conversion of individual labor and creativity into personal well-being, independently of authorization from central planning bodies. This research adopts a bibliographic and documentary methodology, complemented by empirical data from the Human Development Index (HDI) of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), comparing countries with predominantly capitalist economies and countries with centrally planned or heavily state-controlled economies. The results indicate a relevant, but not unicausal, correlation between market openness, legal security of property, and human development indicators. Methodological rigor necessitates the recognition of intervening variables (war, international sanctions, geography, institutional design of the welfare state) that relativize any direct and exclusive causal inference.