La contrattazione costituzionale dei livelli di autonomia: modelli per una comparazione

La contrattazione costituzionale dei livelli di autonomia: modelli per una comparazione

The aim of this collection was to evaluate the development of a sample of decentralised constitutional systems. The project focused on cases from Australia, France, Italy, the United Kingdom, and the USA. All these analyses show that regionalism and federalism are pragmatic responses to social and fiscal stimuli.

The debate over finding the optimum balance between flexibility and the stability of public institutions is an old chestnut in constitutional theory. However, there is a general consensus that, in rapidly evolving societies, institutions should be perceived to act for the common good. Businesses, for instance, are competing in a global market and require a tax system that delivers services proportional to their overseas competitors, or at the very least, comparable to their neighbouring regions. Central institutions, which are committed to delivering core public services, also have an interest in holding onto regional entrepreneurs who might easily relocate overseas. One of the reasons for the economic decay in Northern Ireland is related to the inability of the Northern Irish counties to compete with the Republic of Ireland’s business-friendly fiscal system.

However, entrenched ideological assumptions, in Northern Ireland and elsewhere, add an element of ‘lag’ in terms of institutional reforms. In other words, institutional efficiency, administrative accountability, and legitimacy are aspects that might foster demands for the decentralisation of competences, but these demands have to be compatible with the orthodox assumptions of modern constitutional theory.

In all the legal systems considered in this collection, changes in the system of governance are considered in the light of the fundamental canons of modern deliberative democracy, such as the endorsement of formal equality for all citizens, indirect representation, administrative
accountability, and redistributive justice.

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