Social State and Welfare State

The Liberal Rule of Law
After the liberal revolutions of the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, the rule of law was called "liberal rule of law". This form of political organisation made individual freedoms the centre of democratic citizenship. These are the true freedoms, because public powers have the obligation to guarantee, consolidate and strengthen these individual freedoms as the basis of democratic citizenship.

Social State and Welfare State

After the socialist revolutions of the 19th and 20th centuries, the rule of law was called "social rule of law". This form of political organisation makes social conditions, material
necessities and economic resources the centre of democratic citizenship. So that fundamental rights were not just formal rights or rights only recognized on a paper, the defenders of the social state proposed equality as the centre of democratic citizenship. The social state did not promote equality of results but it did present equality of opportunities, so that the less capable citizens could participate as equals in public life. This concern for equality produced some new rights called "social rights". Among these we can find the right to education, healthcare and cultural training. The social state not only protected citizens, it also trained them and promoted them in order to encourage their welfare. This is why we can say that we have passed from a social state to a welfare state.

Social and Democratic Rule of Law

The Spanish Constitution was one of the last European constitutions of the 20th century. When it was written it adopted aspects of the liberal and social state. This summary of political traditions is one of the biggest efforts of the constitution because liberal- and socialistinspired traditions can rule from it. A summary that does not refer to the existence of rights and laws but to the recognition of values that are not the property of any political or ideological tradition therefore receive the name of higher values.