Sustainability and Constitutions: Constitutional Law and the Dilemma of the Future

This article deals with the emerging concept of “sustainability”, that, according to the empirical research presented here, is mentioned in the text of 67 constitutions, very often in relation to the environment or with the rights of future generations. As the vast majority of those references consist in very general substantive provisions, needing legislative or judicial implementation, the article deals with the challenges brought by “aspirational constitutions” and with the role of the courts in their enforcement. Finally, I maintains that, in order to achieve the effectiveness, constitutions should include procedural provisions aimed at integrating sustainability instances (throughout specialized bodies) into the legislative process

Giustizia costituzionale e Stati decentri. L’esperienza della Corte Costituzionale

1. Federalismo, regionalismo e giustizia costituzionale. – 2. Il giudizio in via principale dopo la riforma del Titolo V. – 3. Il ruolo della Corte costituzionale italiana nell’evoluzione dello Stato regionale. 3.1. La giurisprudenza precedente alla riforma costituzionale del 2001 (cenni). 3.2. L’incremento quantitativo delle questioni in via principale dopo la riforma del Titolo V. 3.3. Gli strumenti a garanzia del principio unitario nella giurisprudenza costituzionale sul nuovo Titolo V. 3.4. Conseguenze: lo svuotamento della competenza legislativa regionale. 3.5. Prospettive: la Corte costituzionale garante del principio di lealtà. ________________________________________ La justícia constitucional és un element indispensable en tots els estats compostos per tal de, entre altres funcions, garantir el respecte al repartiment de competències. L’autora comença analitzant aquest paper de la justícia constitucional en els estats compostos i passa immediatament a estudiar el paper que ha tingut a Itàlia, partint de l’anàlisi dels processos constitucionals i del seu pes en la pràctica. Fixant com a punt de referència la darrera reforma del títol V l’any 2001, l’autora analitza quin havia estat fins llavors el paper de la Corte Costituzionale i quin ha estat aquest paper amb posterioritat a la reforma, que va voler reforçar el poder legislatiu de les regions però que, en la pràctica, no ha aconseguit variar substancialment la situació anterior. Finalment, l’autora teoritza sobre quin ha de ser el paper de la Corte en el futur immediat.In this article, ihe author analyzes whether and to what extent, the 2001 reform of the Italian Constitution, aimed at enhancing regional legislative power, had any impact upon the role of the Italian constitutional court (Corte Costituzionale) as a mechanism to warrant the distribution of powers between the regions and central institutions. In this sense, the author starts by providing a general picture of the role of constitutional courts in federal and decentralized systems. Secondly, she analyzes the roles played by the constitutional court up to and after the 2001 reform. Finally the author discusses what should be the role of the court in the most immediate future.La justícia constitucional és un element indispensable en tots els estats compostos per tal de, entre altres funcions, garantir el respecte al repartiment de competències. L’autora comença analitzant aquest paper de la justícia constitucional en els estats compostos i passa immediatament a estudiar el paper que ha tingut a Itàlia, partint de l’anàlisi dels processos constitucionals i del seu pes en la pràctica. Fixant com a punt de referència la darrera reforma del títol V l’any 2001, l’autora analitza quin havia estat fins llavors el paper de la Corte Costituzionale i quin ha estat aquest paper amb posterioritat a la reforma, que va voler reforçar el poder legislatiu de les regions però que, en la pràctica, no ha aconseguit variar substancialment la situació anterior. Finalment, l’autora teoritza sobre quin ha de ser el paper de la Corte en el futur immediat

Lo stato regionale italiano nel XXI secolo, tra globalizzazione e crisi economica

L’article tracta de l’evolució del regionalisme a Itàlia, des de la seva creació mitjançant l’Assemblea constituent de l’any 1947, fins a la recent reforma constitucional, aprovada pel Senat el 8 d’agost de 2014. Es posa en relleu l’existència de tres fases de descentralització, cadascuna de les quals ha anat seguida d’una fase en sentit invers. Tot i que l’any 2001 es va adoptar un model “quasi federal”, des d’aleshores aquest model institucional s’ha anat buidant pel legislador estatal i per la jurisprudència constitucional, i s’ha anat derivant cap a un procés de recentralització, especialment agreujat a partir del 2008 en què va esclatar la crisi econòmica. Aquest procés ha fet palès que la revisió constitucional de 2001 havia dissenyat un sistema de govern quasi-federal que no era adequat per la societat italiana que, en lloc de més autonomia regional, només demanava una bona governança a tots els nivells de govern. La reforma de 2014 sembla anar en aquesta direcció, vers un “neoregionalisme” consistent principalment en una descentralització administrativa regional

Constitutional Jurisdictions in the ICT Revolution: Looking for legitimacy through communication

The article discusses the growing importance of the communication of constitutional and supreme courts with public opinion and how new technologies are transforming this relationship. It highlights the need for an empirical analysis of court communication, due to the scarcity of norms regulating these activities. The author examines the generators. The object, the tools, and the recipients of the communication of 27 constitutional jurisdictions worldwide. The research was conducted using three types of tools. First, an examination of the courts’ websites and social media platforms. Secondly, a dedicated questionnaire was submitted from scholars of the respective jurisdictions. Finally, the publications on the subject were considered, although they are rather limited and sporadic. The main findings of the research are that in the last fifteen years, almost all the analysed courts have changed their communication strategies. In many cases, these changes have been promoted by some prominent chief justices, and they covered both the communication tools (there was a shift from communication through websites and press releases to social networks), its content (which extended from judicial to extrajudicial activities, and especially to the promotion of constitutional literacy), and the recipients of the communication (which are more and more the general public). It concludes by discussing the reasons for this change, the risks, and the potentialities it involves, especially in the context of the democratic backsliding that many democracies are experiencing. The tendency of the courts to resort to extrajudicial activities to promote the constitution is a symptomatic element of a gap in constitutional democracy, i.e., the need to strengthen the instruments to promote the constitution, including through educational and institutional innovations, a gap that should be taken seriously and addressed by scholars

La Corte e ‘la gente’. Uno sguardo ‘dal basso’ all’accesso incidentale alla giustizia costituzionale

L’articolo propone una riflessione critica sulle vie di accesso al giudizio sulle leggi in Italia, suggerendo di guardare al giudizio incidentale ‘dal basso’, cioè con gli occhi dei soggetti dell’ordinamento. Questo nuovo sguardo conduce, nelle conclusioni, a supportare e incoraggiare l’automanutenzione avviata dalla Corte specialmente con la sentenza n.1/2014 e a interrogarsi sulla necessità di introdurre ulteriori vie di accesso. La domanda che guida la riflessione è la seguente: “è sensato un sistema di giustizia costituzionale che, perché sia possibile adire il giudice delle leggi, ci chiede, sempre e in ogni caso, di procurarci un rifiuto o di violare la legge, esponendoci al rischio di sanzioni?”. In altre parole: “di fronte alla legge ‘sospetta’, occorre necessariamente e personalmente soffrire?” La risposta che si dà a tale domanda, “no”, è sviluppata in due punti. Innanzitutto, si evidenzia la tensione tra le esigenze dello Stato costituzionale e la logica dell’accesso incidentale, soffermandosi sulla questione della obbedienza/disobbedienza alla legge‘sospetta’. In secondo luogo, si considerano i tempi difficili che lo Stato costituzionale attraversa, in questa epoca, evidenziando la necessità di ridurre gli spazi in cui la disobbedienza si configuri come l’unica opzione, per riportare la questione della legge ‘sospetta’ entro l’ordinarietà della vita costituzionale. Ciò potrebbe avvenire affiancando a quella incidentale una via di accesso di tipo astratto-concreto, che consenta di trasformare il ‘diritto di ribellione nel diritto di azione’ rendendo la ‘Costituzione a portata del popolo’.The article proposes a critical reflection on the avenues to trigger the Constitutional Court in Italy, suggesting to look at thepreliminary reference (incidental review) ‘from below’, that is with the eyes of the subjects of the legal order. This new look leads, in the conclusions, to support and encourage the ‘maintenance’ of the constitutional review initiated by the Court in the last years, especially with the judgment n.1/2014, and to propose the introduction of new avenues. The question that leads to reflection is as follows: “it makes sense to have a system of constitutional justice which, in order to be able to appeal to the Constitutional Court, always and in any case, asks us to obtain a denial or to violate the law, exposing us to the risk of sanctions?”. In other words: “before the ‘suspect’ law (suspect of unconstitutionality), we must necessarily and personally suffer?”. The answer given to this question, “no”, is developed in two points. First of all, the tension between the needs of the constitutional State and the logic of the preliminary reference is highlighted, focusing on the question of obedience/disobedience to the ‘suspect’ law. Secondly, we consider the difficulties the constitutional State is facing in this historical moment, pointing out the necessity to reduce the cases in which disobedience is the only option. We maintain the need to find a way to deal, as far as possible, with the issue of the ‘suspect’ law within the normal constitutional life. This could be done by adding to the incidental one an abstract-concrete way of access, which allows to transform the ‘right of rebellion’ into ‘the right of action’, making the Constitution within people’s reach

Del constitucionalismo global a los nuevos autoritarismos. Desafíos para el derecho comparado

The article questions the role of comparative law in the era of democratic backsliding. Actually, although these phenomena are accompanied by a rejection of global constitutionalism, in the name of national specificities, this does not translate into an irrelevance of comparative law. Indeed, very often the new authoritarian regimes justify their choices based on foreign examples that are decontextualized and manipulated, according to a technique that has been defined as “abusive constitutional borrowing”. All this implies a renewed role for comparative law scholars, who are called to play a “defensive function”, unmasking the abusive constitutionalism, and monitoring institutional changes. This new task impacts on the selection of research subjects (which should be especially focused on the institutions and rights attacked by the new illiberal forces); on the methodology of the research (which requires a dialogue with the other social sciences, aimed at going beyond the legal norms, to assess their effectiveness); on the dissemination of the results (which must be addressed to the media and the public opinion).El artículo cuestiona el papel del derecho comparado en la época actual, caracterizada por un retroceso de las democracias a favor de regímenes híbridos o autoritarios. De hecho, si bien las regresiones democráticas van acompañadas de un rechazo del constitucionalismo global, en nombre de las especificidades nacionales, esto no se traduce en una irrelevancia del derecho comparado. A menudo, los nuevos regímenes autoritarios justifican sus elecciones sobre la base de ejemplos extranjeros descontextualizados y manipulados, según una técnica que ha sido definida como “abusive constitutional borrowing”. Todo esto implica nuevos desafíos para los estudiosos del derecho comparado, quienes se encuentran llamados a cumplir una “función defensiva”, para desenmascarar el constitucionalismo abusivo y monitorear los cambios institucionales. Esta nueva tarea tiene un impacto en la selección de temas de investigación (que deben centrarse sobre todo en las instituciones y los derechos atacados por las nuevas fuerzas iliberales); sobre la metodología de la investigación (que exige un diálogo con otras ciencias sociales que tiende a ir más allá de las normas jurídicas para evaluar su impacto y eficacia); sobre la difusión de los resultados de la investigación (esta debe dirigirse cada vez más a la opinión pública a través de los medios de comunicación y la divulgación académica)

Scuola e costituzione in Italia. Una lettura nella prospettiva del “costituzionalismo trasformatore"

Molteplici indicatori testimoniano le difficoltà del sistema scolastico italiano in comparazione agli altri paesi sviluppati: sperequazioni sociali e territoriali, significativa dispersione scolastica, limitato accesso all’istruzione superiore e universitaria. Questa situazione, radicata nell’epoca preunitaria e nel Regno d’Italia, permane, benché l’Italia repubblicana si sia dotata di una costituzione “trasformatrice”, ovvero finalizzata a trasformare la società attraverso il diritto, nella direzione dell’eguaglianza sostanziale e della giustizia sociale. L’articolo, dopo aver analizzato il diritto all’istruzione come diritto sociale, si interroga su ciò che non ha funzionato nell’ordinamento italiano, a partire dalla debolezza intrinseca nel modo con cui la questione dell’istruzione è stata affrontata dalla classe dirigente repubblicana, inclusi i Costituenti. Esaminando la fase costituente, il testo della costituzione e la sua attuazione si sosterrà che la forza trasformatrice del momento costituente è stata svuotata fin dall’inizio, aprendo la strada alla continuità con la visione elitaria dell’istruzione propria dello Stato liberale italiano. Tale situazione non è stata mai pienamente superata, nonostante una serie di sviluppi del diritto costituzionale vivente. Nella conclusione, l’articolo propone di valorizzare il testo costituzionale in via interpretativa, rileggendolo anche alla luce degli sviluppi della categoria del “costituzionalismo trasformatore”, per come sviluppata dalla dottrina e dai giudici nel Global South.Multiple indicators demonstrate the difficulties of the Italian educational system in comparison to other developed countries: social and territorial inequalities, significant school dropout, limited access to higher and university education. This situation, rooted in the history, persists, although since 1948 Italy has a "transformative" constitution, i.e. a constitution aimed at transforming society through law, in the direction of substantive equality and social justice. The article, after analyzing the right to education as a social right, questions what did not work in the Italian legal system, starting from the intrinsic weakness in the way the Constituent Assembly dealt with the right to education. Examining the constituent phase, the text of the constitution and its implementation it will be argued that the transformative force of the constituent moment was emptied from the beginning, paving the way for continuity with the elitist vision of education typical of the Italian liberal State. This situation has never been fully overcome, despite an evolution over the decades in living constitutional law. In the conclusion, the article proposes to enhance the written constitution by the way of an evolutive interpretation according to the fundamental constitutional principles, also in light of the developments of the category of "transformative constitutionalism", as developed by the doctrine and judges in the Global South