The Importance of the Convergence of Legal Cultures for Modern Trends of Integration

Abstract

Reflections on the importance of cultural convergence and integration in the European countries of the region are still present in the social, economic and legal discourse. Converging trends, in most general terms, mean strengthening, consolidation and merging international political, economic and cultural cooperation. A contribution to this is given by processes widely discussed in the literature like globalization, economic liberalization and political, ideological and moral pluralism. The phenomenon of convergence applies to law as such. The above mentioned factors are fostering the convergence of law. However, one can indicate conditions shaping legal integration in a specific way. An adhesive joining the European legal culture tends to be a common legal tradition of states of the relevant cultural area, constitutional tradition, ethical values - humanity, freedom, justice and equality - defining the legal thinking and interpretation of the law. These considerations aim to illustrate the importance of the convergence of legal cultures to seek answers about the role and importance of law and changes in the way of understanding of the law within globalization and integration processes. For this purpose, the concept of globalization will be reconstructed as well as the idea of integration, culture and legal culture, and then described the impact of converging trends on the processes of creation, interpretation and application of the law.