Polycentric is an adjective that allows us to describe that which arises or is expressed in different centers . The polycentric, therefore, tends to be based on multiple points or oriented in various directions .
It is common to indicate that, after the end of the Cold War and the fall of the Berlin Wall , we moved from a bipolar world to a polycentric world . For more than half a century, the United States and the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics ( USSR ) were the only two great international powers. However, starting in 1991 , various countries began to strengthen themselves and increase their power, with which the global political and economic configuration became polycentric.
We speak of polycentric law , on the other hand, to refer to legislation developed from overlapping jurisdictions and legal systems , which compete with each other and are produced privately. This proposal is framed in anarcho-capitalist theory and appears in other doctrines.
Currently, the creation and application of laws are monopolies of the State . Polycentric law, on the other hand, is based on the assumption of the production of legislation by private entities . In this way, the polycentric law does not contemplate the intervention of state institutions to establish the norms.
Returning to the figure of the State mentioned in the previous paragraph, we can say that the idea of polycentric law is precisely opposite to the so-called state monopoly , a concept that is also known by the name of public monopoly and that refers to the way in which that a State agency or a public company has exclusivity when providing a particular service or good. All of this falls into the category of artificial monopoly , since it does not occur naturally, due to a lack of capacity on the part of one of the parties, but is caused intentionally.
From a more technical point of view, polycentric law is made up of overlapping and competing jurisdictions and legal systems, which are based on association or private law, they are neither public nor territorial. Although this concept put into practice is considered contemporary, it is based on ideas that already existed centuries ago .
The modern State appeared between the 15th and 16th centuries, a time in which royalty took advantage of the decline that feudalism was going through to try to regain its power. But if we go a little further into the past we will see that the laws were not based on territory but on aspects such as race, kinship and competition, among others. This opened the doors to the existence of union or merchant law, religious law, etc.
In the Roman Empire , on the other hand, the Romans were in charge of the administration of law while legal systems were usually in the hands of the rest of the citizens. We can say that in the very nature of the law is the freedom to create it through contracts that involve two parties, and not the rigidity of imposing it; In other words, the polycentric character should be inherent to any legal system, and not an exception or a utopia.
The idea of polycentric also appears in the postulates of the Egyptian economist and intellectual Samir Amin ( 1931 – 2018 ), who wrote the thesis of disconnection . According to Amin , underdeveloped countries should “disconnect” from the world capitalist system and thus put aside the intrinsic values of capitalism , related to exploitation. After this “disconnection” , these nations could enter a polycentric world system that is not tied to the will and interests of the powers.