DECENTRALIZATION, AUTONOMY, INDEPENDENCE. TO WHAT EXTENT CAN A FORMAL CONSTITUTION BE STRETCHED OUT?

The 3/2017 issue of Politica Economica -Journal of Economic Policy concerning the decentralized provision of public services in unitary states, raises many relevant problems about the nature and content of Constitutions. In this article we tackle one of them, related to the extent to which the requests for greater decentralization can be accommodated within the boundaries of the political agreement giving rise to a given Constitution. With regard to the Italian situation, we emphasize that decentralization finds a limit in the respect and empowerment of the human person. More generally, we highlight a criterion that can possibly provide guidance to understand whether greater decentralization – as a way to soften distributional conflicts – can agree with the stability of a constitutional regime.