Il principio di sussidiarietà orizzontale e la sua attuazione

Over the last years, the principle of horizontal subsidiarity has been widely investigated: it is well known that its origins are rooted in philosophical thoughts as well as in the social doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church, beginning with the Papal Encyclical Quadrigesimo anno, and that it is now recognized in the fourth paragraph of Article 118 of the Italian Constitution. Recently, some scholars have mentioned a so called “dark side of subsidiarity”, to indicate the fear that its implementation may lead to abandon the representative sovereignty: in reality, this fear seems to be unfounded, since the horizontal subsidiarity between public institutions is the only plausible approach to address the complexities of today's society.