Introduction: two spaces of subsidiarity?

ABSTRACT

Scholarship on subsidiarity conducted since the nineteenth century has developed two strands of interpretation suggesting competing models of social organisation as far as the potential location of decision-making power is concerned. While this intellectual effort has mainly concentrated on political experiences in continental Europe, and gained further traction with the principle’s recognition in European Union law, the institutional architecture of Commonwealth countries has experienced relative neglect. This collection, however, examines the debates around competing ordering principles with evidence coming from operational problems of Westminster style democracies in four world regions, and considers how a multi-disciplinary perspective can guide comparative analysis.

KEYWORDS:

• subsidiarity
• comparative analysis
• multi-disciplinary
• decision-making
• case-studies
• Westminster democracies

Acknowledgements

The writing of this special issue benefitted from the financial support provided by Bologna University for a research conference held at its Forli Campus on the 12 of April 2018. We would also like to record our appreciation of the constructive criticism and thorough advice received from the anonymous reviewers of this journal.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

ORCID

Rosa Mulé http://orcid.org/0000-0003-2506-6850

Günter Walzenbach http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7769-2733