State policies

between the substantive and the instrumental. Tensions around the breadth of the margins of discrepancies.

Abstract

State policies, those public policies that, on the basis of consensus, form an isolated nucleus independent of the political color of the government, are not exempt from discussion and for some time now have been the central object of debate. They constitute for us a genuine dilemma. The aim of this paper is to enter directly into this discussion -analyzing arguments for and against-, approaching it from the perspective of secular democratic scripts and, most significantly, outlining alternatives that make a relevant contribution to the debate and provide a way out of the problems it raises. In this sense, the discussion usually oscillates between the need for stability of public policies and the unwavering respect for the breadth of the margins of discrepancies. The aim here is to construct an argument and alternatives which, based on Carlos Roxlo's democratic conception, exercise and strengthen the substantive muscles required by a civic community.