Abstract
The purpose of this article is to outline a systemic analysis of the principle of separation of powers in the context of contemporary society, marked by its fragmentation in several autonomous subsystems that perform distinct functions in a hypercomplex universe. To accomplish the task, firstly, it seeks to justify the theoretical reference chosen by indicating its relevance to the treatment of the question to be analyzed. Then the article makes a brief reconstruction of the intellectual itinerary of the idea of separation of powers in “modern semantics”. Thus, without intending to make a more consistent historical analysis of this idea, the study only refers to classical authors who, in the context of “modern semantics”, contributed to its diffusion and consolidation. For doing so, the study is guided, in particular, by the thesis of Quentin Skinner, whose focus is to develop suitable methodological tools to avoid anachronism in the history of ideas. Finally, based on Niklas Luhmann’s systems theory, the article proposes a systemic re-reading of the separation of powers.
Keywords:
separation of powers; systems theory; judicial power; Constitution; functional differentiation