La sostenibilità della democrazia tra istanze liberali e rivendicazioni sovraniste

Abstract

In terms of concrete political options, Western democratic regimes
today find themselves caught in a highly polarized field of tension: on the one hand, the ideal and founding inspirations expressed in their own liberal-constitutional framework; on the other, the advancement, both on the sides of political supply and demand, of sovereignist tendencies. These latter, in particular, aim to turn back the hands of history, or to propose new forms of civil coexistence where the principle of sovereignty could operate in an absolute and dis-intermediated manner, at the national as well as supranational level. The strategies adopted to govern this impasse have attempted a conciliation of this dialectic into a political synthesis proposing sometimes new forms of paternalism. They ultimately remove all sense of responsibility from the political community. Consequently, the most tangible forthcoming danger is the transformation of dissatisfied, but sovereign, citizens into satisfied subjects of a sovereign increasingly present in their lives. This article, following a political theory approach, tries first to highlight how difficult it is to reconcile the claims emerging “from below” with the solutions often proposed “from above”. Then, it analyses such trends into a framework that respects the foundations on which Western political communities have erected their institutions to safeguard those principles of freedom and equality so laboriously affirmed in the long journey of the democratic idea.