The group iniciated its work under the research project Rational Approaches to the theory of justice in contemporary world coordinated in 1993 by, and the following researches and projects developed subsequently, supervised by Bernat Riutort from 1999. In accordance with this crucial moment in the development of practical - moral, political and social - philosophy in Spain and relationships with Ibero-America, the group regularly participates in activities carried out by the Spanish and Latin-American researchers collective, the Asociación Iberoamericana de Filosofía Política (Ibero-American Political Philosophy Association) and the Revista Internacional de Filosofía Política (International Journal of Political Philosophy). The group has developed its international, teaching and researching relationships in the South American and particularly Argentinean arena to a great extent. Result of this work is the permanent seminar in Iberoamerican social and political analysis. More information here.

The research methodology employs counterfactual, epistemological and philosophical platforms, with contributions from the social sciences - particularly sociology and anthropology - in general theoretical discussion and concrete social analyses developed through mainly local and national case studies. The starting point is the discussion and application of theoretical frameworks pertaining to structural changes in advanced societies - particularly critical theory and the different post-Marxist schools - and subjecting theoretical commitments to empirical contrast as well as stating normative, ontological and epistemic assumptions. By doing so, we attempt to reveal the main characteristics of the changes underway in society - jobs, social, political, etc.- from a critical perspective, while being aware of counterfactual assumptions and their revisable character. Emphasis is placed on the latest issues linked to globalisation: changes in the workplace and in families, the explosion of gender and environmental questions and the processes of multicultural recognition and identity construction.

The specific research underway, Globalisation, democratic legitimacy and sustainability, considers the problems that changes in policy and political conceptions in a globalised age pose for democratic legitimisation: the change in global ecology, the consequences of complex modernity, the transformations in the employment society and changes in welfare regimes. This range of transformations and displacements may be sorted into particular categories while the theoretical models that bring us closer to societal reality, forms of collective action and the public administration they contend with are tested. At this time, the idea of citizenry - with its different ecology, political, social and cultural dimensions - articulates the research underway.