La creciente importancia de los debates antiespecistas en la teoría política contemporánea: del bienestarismo al abolicionismo.

The profiles of human beings' ethical behavior towards non-human animals have gained increasing public relevance in the media over the past decades. Issues related to animal abuse, industrial exploitation of edible species or the terms of the private relationship with pets seem to be, more than ever before, at the centre of public debates. This new situation leads us to reflect around the newly established relationships with nonhuman animals; issues that have remained marginal and worthy of few references in contemporary political theory until very recently. This research note discusses the classic and latest theories on the debates over animal rights theories, highlighting some elements such as: what is meant by speciesism and antispeciesism; to what extent may rights be granted to non-human animals; and above all, which are the positions and debates within the animal movement, mainly between advocates of welfarist protectionism for nonhumans and supporters of an abolitionist approach to property. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]