RISULTATI RICERCA

The essay goes throug Bobbio’s famous book twenty years later it was first published. The six «unfulfilled promises of democracy» (individual’s sovereignity, primacy of political representation over representation of interests. defeat of oligarchies and hidden power, mutiplying of self-government areas, education of citizens) are analyzed at the light of a crucial question: was it good or bad that democracy did not fulfill it promises? Rousseau, Bentham, John Stuart Mill’s ideals, which Bobbio takes as a point of reference to reflection on contemporary democracy’s disfunction, may still be shared by XXIst century democrats? The answer is not a simple one. Some promises could not possibly be kept and consequently they cannot be included in the normative model of democracy for our times. Other ones, such as those linked to the defeat of hidden power and money’s oligarchies, can not be divided from a conception of democracy like the one put forward by Bobbio, «minimal» but demanding at the same time.

The essay is meant to draw the image that Norberto Bobbio had of Italian cultural identity starting from a dicotomy tipically belonging to Bobbio’s thought: the one up to which a «civil Italy» (minoritarian, rational in the Enlightments meaning of the term, democratic, of which he thought he belonged to) is opposed to the «other Italy» (tendentially majoritarian, spiritualistic, self-pleased and actually authoritarian). Making reference to Bobbio’s main works, from the well known Profilo ideologico to the trilogy consisting of Italia civile, Italia fedele, and La mia Italia, the author draws up a balance of the relationship always a tormented one, moving from a deep pessimism to periods ot trust between one of the most genuine interpreters of liberal-democratic thought and his «national identity».

The article discusses Bobbio’s method to deal with the transformations of contemprary democracies. Bobbio based his approach to the letter on the search of antinomies and contradictions. Assuming Bobbio’s definition of democracy as a political regime constitued by rules which make possible the participation of citizens to the decision affectin their life, the article identifies two new antinomies in contemporary democracies. Both coming from the Bobbio’s idea of a democracy as a regulatory regime. One is the antinomy which emerged in Italy since the 1990s, due to the contrast between the pressure for adapting or changing the basic rules of the political game and the difficulty to do that in a country (such as Italy) traditionally insensible to the importance of rules. The other is the antinomy emerged in the international system, due to the contrast between the need to extend the regulatory regimes and the will of the only superpower to reduce their impact. It is improper to look for answer in Bobbio’s thought. But his method is still viable in framing the question we have to face.

In the year of the centenary of the birth, Guido Calogero’s work and life (1904-1986) who was philosopher, antifascist, engaged intellectual, liberal-socialist theorist, teacher for a whole generation reach now their highest clebrity, since his political thought has been rediscovered and deepened in the last years. There have been celebrations and studies, concerned with aspects of his philosophical, pedagogical, ethical and political thinking. Starting from the new edition of La scuola dell’uomo, this essay sets forth some considerations on three closely intertwined issues, the idea of liberty, the connection between education and democracy, the ethical vision and the relationship between the individual and the otherness. From the text, the «feeling of boundary» emerges with its theoretical and practical importance. This could be read as an original interpretative key for the praxis of democracy and to sketch Calogero’s ethical and political theory. His ethical and political lecture gives instuments to face delicate issues of today’s life as well, as it is demonstrated by a complex vision of liberty, an ethic conceived as very close to the ethic of care (such as that elaborated by the theoretical feminism of the last years), the connection between civil education and the assets of a pluralistic democracy.

Development theory has been in crisis since the 1980s. This crisis reflects the fact that dominant theories have not been able to provide adequate answers to explain why the developing world is still underdeveloped. The main alternative emerged in the past decade, post-development, represents a radical critique of means, goals, and outcomes of the «development project». Therefore, the question that this essay tries to answer concerns how development theory, including post-development, can help us improve the quality of life in the developing world. The «relevance» of development theory cannot be achieved by re-proposing lost paradigms but only by incorporating new knowledge, including post-development thinking. Development is no longer state-led, as suggested by modernization and dependency theory; it is no longer market-led, as suggested by neo-liberalism; it is no longer society-led, as suggested by alternative development: rather, it must be a combination of all these perspectives.