We live in a world of profound change. The implementation of new technologies; the growing impact of mass media communications; the unprecedented development of a market economy on a global scale; the ubiquitous role of a civil society progressively consolidating, vertically and horizontally; the shared desire to address the problems afflicting humanity, such as international terrorism, arms trafficking, hunger and poverty, sexual exploitation, political and economic corruption, abuse of power, and increasing environmental challenges that threaten the configuration and peace of the planet – these are some of the issues that characterize our unique and never-recurring historical moment.

We are propelled through life at a dizzying speed. Perhaps this is the most salient difference from the past: the hectic pace of our social relations, which at times makes it difficult to adapt to the demands of justice. Our society is the product of a complex mosaic of political, economic, and cultural relationships, the intricacies of which are hardly recognizable merely by applying the social norms of yesteryear.

Faced with this reality, which is as certain as our own existence, we jurists cannot and should not turn a blind eye, thereby allowing the law of the jungle to take over in this age of globalization because of lack of foresight, consistency, or imagination. We cannot acquiesce to world domination by economic imperialism or political cryptocracy as if it were some kind of private estate.