Using Robert Alexy’s law of balancing in social work decision-making

Abstract

In the field of constitutional law and international law, the method of proportionality is used when necessary to resolve conflicts between or among different human rights. This is a concept which may also be inspiring in social work. The aim of this article is to propose the use of the Law of Balancing as conceived by Robert Alexy in social work decision-making in cases in which human rights come into conflict with each other. This paper represents a theoretical research in which the method of analogical reasoning is used to achieve the goal. The proposed model for social work is based on Alexy’s three steps: first, the degree of harm to the right being restricted is determined, then the importance of fulfilling the conflicting principle is determined, and finally deliberations are made regarding whether the importance of fulfilling the primary right justifies the restriction of the conflicting principle.