Constitutionalism and new private power

This paper intends to be a starting point for reflection to try to move the current ap- proach of constitutional law from an object of scientific knowledge traditionally restricted to the discipline of the relationship of citizens with public power to a broader vision, which has specific regard also to the action of private powers when the latter (for example the financial oligarchies and the dominators of IT platforms) deploying all their ability to violate the laws, also impose themselves on the public powers and - above all decisively influence the lives of citizens. In this way, in fact, the dominance of money and/or the ability to manipulate the thoughts of the "victims" of IT platforms puts the international majors in the position of presenting themselves as holders of a large share of power, in the absence of those conditioning and of those limits that constitutionalism has managed, in a centuries- old confrontation, to impose on political institutions. Instead, faced with the eruption of private powers on the global scene, there has been little reaction from jurists, fueled and reflected by lackluster political decisions on an international level and by poor coordination between the organizations operating in the sectors concerned. For this reason - it is argued - a not indifferent theoretical effort should be expected from the scholars of the discipline of constitutional law, such as to place itself at the height of the transformation brought about by private powers, in order to draw constitutionalism out of the comforting, but outdated, vision that the protection of fundamental rights must be implemented exclusively with regard to political power.

Keywords: constitutionalism, public institutions, private powers, current confron- tation.

Jel codes: H40

Cesare Pinelli, Il costituzionalismo di fronte ai nuovi poteri privati in "ECONOMIA PUBBLICA " 1/2023, pp 115-122, DOI: 10.3280/EP2023-001006