Power, Community, and Life

toward a non-fetishized understanding of politics

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.35699/2525-8036.2026.65058

Keywords:

Politics of Liberation, Enrique Dussel, Latin American political philosophy

Abstract

This article examines the foundations of the Politics of Liberation developed by Enrique Dussel, situating it within contemporary political philosophy and its critique of conceptions that reduce politics to domination. The problem guiding this investigation is how political power can be understood beyond its identification with forms of domination. The objective of the article is to reconstruct the main theoretical foundations of the Politics of Liberation, clarifying the internal organization of its central categories and its analytical potential for understanding politics. The article advances the hypothesis that the distinction between potentia and potestas, together with the critique of the fetishism of power, allows political power to be understood as originating in the political community, providing a normative criterion for evaluating the legitimacy of institutions and political actions. Methodologically, the article adopts a categorical reconstruction of Dussel’s work, mobilizing concepts such as the will to live, potentia, potestas, consensual power, representation, sovereignty, and the fetishism of power.

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Author Biography

  • Rayann Kettuly Massahud de Carvalho, Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais

    Doutor em Direito pela Universidade Federal de Minas Gerais (UFMG), Brasil, com mestrado pela mesma instituição e graduação em Direito pela Universidade Federal de Lavras (UFLA). ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-0956-5580. Contato: rayannkmassahud@gmail.com.

References

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DUSSEL, Enrique. Filosofia da libertação na América Latina. São Paulo: Loyola, 1977.

DUSSEL, Enrique. Hacia una filosofía política crítica. 1. ed. Bilbao: Desclée de Brouwer, 2001.

DUSSEL, Enrique. 20 teses de política. 1. ed. São Paulo: Expressão Popular, 2007.

DUSSEL, Enrique. Política de la liberación: historia mundial y crítica. v. 1 Madrid: Trotta, 2007.

DUSSEL, Enrique. Política de la liberación: arquitectónica. v. 2. Madrid: Trotta, 2009.

DUSSEL, Enrique. Política de la liberación: crítica creadora. v. 3. Madrid: Trotta, 2022.

MIGNOLO, Walter. Histórias locais/projetos globais: colonialidade, saberes subalternos e pensamento liminar. Belo Horizonte: UFMG, 2003.

QUIJANO, Aníbal. Colonialidad del poder, eurocentrismo y América Latina. In: LANDER, E. (Org.). La colonialidad del saber: eurocentrismo y ciencias sociales. Perspectivas latinoamericanas. Buenos Aires: CLACSO, 2000.

QUIJANO, Aníbal. Dom Quixote e os moinhos de vento na América Latina. Estudos avançados, v. 19, p. 9-31, 2005. Disponível em: https://www.scielo.br/j/ea/a/KCnb9McPhytSwZLLfyzGRDP/?format=html&lang=pt. Acesso em: 29 jun. 26.

Published

2026-06-30

How to Cite

CARVALHO, Rayann Kettuly Massahud de. Power, Community, and Life: toward a non-fetishized understanding of politics. Revista de Ciências do Estado, Belo Horizonte, v. 11, n. 1, p. 1–25, 2026. DOI: 10.35699/2525-8036.2026.65058. Disponível em: https://periodicos.ufmg.br/index.php/revice/article/view/e65058. Acesso em: 22 jul. 2026.