The notion of public interest in Ibero-American constitutions

Abstract

This paper was developed from a study carried out around the term public interest through a search on the Political constitutions of Colombia, Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Ecuador, Mexico, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, Venezuela and Spain, which were chosen due to their continental connection, language relation and structural closeness to the Colombian Political Constitution. The methodology used was qualitative with analysis and systematization through descriptors such as: how it is used, how it is understood, how it is incorporated, how it is indicated or defined, what is the nature of the use that is given to the expression and how its uses are enunciated. The paper is divided in three sections: methodological aspects, theoretical component, and results and conclusions. As a general finding it can be said that both public interest and close and complementary expressions (groups defined for classification) are used to assign a characteristic to certain goods, institutions, activities or motivation in the State’s orbit of action.