Modern normative orders are institutionalized within territorially circumscribed legal systems. In this respect, globalization seems to inaugurate a new era. The growing dependence of political systems on trans-territorial “markets” tends to “liberate” behavioural patterns from most traditional ethical restrictions. Increasingly, profit seeking activities are being pursued with little regard to internalized ethical restraints.
The validity of contractual obligations is not restrained by qualitative values like equity, fairness, material justice, good faith, virtue and honesty. Thus, the regulation of conflicting individual interests seems to be evolving with little consideration for established and circumscribed domestic orders. More than ever before, the “public interest” is being conceived in trans-territorial terms. In this sense, the emerging global normative order seems increasingly detached from the entities we usually referred to as organized “societies”. The fundamental liberal separation between the private and the public realms is dislocated.
