The principle of subsidiarity and its critique : a contextual analysis of the principle of subsidiarity

Abstract

Theorising again about a topic that has already received a great deal of scientific attention may be viewed, to use some well known words of Camus, as "the ultimately absurd act" (Camus, 1975). Precisely in order to avoid, when dealing with a classic topic, falling into the absurd, or what is only slightly better, into the banal, it is necessary to use afresh methodological and conceptual tools. This should allow one to pose new questions and, finally, open up new intellectual perspectives. Conversely, the distance that one is to cover needs to be not too far removed from current paradigms. Otherwise one may fall into a different kind of trap -that of offering a contribution which is interesting but totally useless, as it were, for the purpose of shedding new light on the ongoing debate. In fact the main trigger for embarking on this project was a reaction to what were current legal critiques of the principle of subsidiarity at a given moment. Though I conceded that a critical outlook should be taken as regards subsidiarity, and no mere review of the principle in legal-technical terms, the standard critique left me with the bitter taste of scientific dissatisfaction. In my view it seemed, at best, to entirely miss the point as regards the issues, that were raised by the introduction of subsidiarity into the constitutional order of the Community, which, in turn, implied that the answers that were given were also clearly unsuitable. I therefore underwent the effort of giving an alternative critical reading of the principle of subsidiarity, the result of which constitutes the thrust of this thesis. Yet before entering into the following critique, it is important to make, by way of introduction, a number of remarks concerning (i) the genealogy of this thesis; (ii) the method; (iii) conceptual issues; (iv) the exposition of the main research hypothesis according to which this work shall be conducted; and (v) the structure of this thesis.