LIBRI DI SERGIO FABBRINI

The article discusses the role of technocrats in contemporary western democracies. Although Italy is one of few cases with recurrent experiences of fully technocratic governments, the role of technocrats has increased in all European democracies, in particular in Eurozone countries. Europeanization and monetary integration have led to a decline of traditional party governments due to their inability to deal with the complex issues of transnational and supranational interdependency. In a regular democracy, a party government cannot be substituted by a technocratic one, yet the former is no longer able to act effectively without the support of technocratic personnel (particularly in economic ministries). An appropriate combination of technocratic policy competence and political capacity to generate consent is far from having been achieved.

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.