Democracy and liberalism seems today inescapable references to political discourse. No European government, but in hindsight the same applies to all states recognized as "fully legitimate" by the international community, could now be defined as contrary to the values of freedom and individual autonomy through which any theory of liberal democracy defines this form of government. The relationship between freedom and autonomy is far from peaceful theoretical point of view; and despite democracy and liberalism have been for a long time rival ideologies, they are traditionally t against any kind of authoritarianism. The democratic and the liberal agree on the assumption ideal according to which the individual is the best judge of their own choices, both in the public arena both in the private sphere in which it claims that the state respects and enforce the rights and freedoms of the individual. Moving from these considerations, it seems very curious that, despite the overwhelming consensus about the form of "liberal-democratic" government, go back today to talk at length about paternalism. The juxtaposition of two seemingly contradictory notions such as neoliberalism and paternalism - an expression used more and more frequently to mark either the continuity and discontinuity of hegemonic thinking with contemporary classical liberalism - emerged from the need to rethink some of those features that is usually to define "liberal democracies". On the one hand, the cornerstones of democratic theory now seem increasingly challenged by new forms of charismatic leaderism and technocratic depoliticization (the trend transformation of electoral processes in plebiscitary rites and the governments recourse to technical reassuring as a panacea for the economic crisis). On the other hand, the liberal principle proposed by John Stuart Mill 's as a limit against the intrusion of the state into the private sphere is exceeded by the increasing invasion of the public authorities in the choices of the individual, in the name of the complex calculations about “social utility”. As already pointed out several years ago "everywhere you are hymns to the free market, and all over the states intervening ever more invasively into the private lives. Where is the limit on the right of state intervention on our habits?”. The need to go back to thinking of a category seemingly obsolete as that of "paternalism" emerges then from the observation that the benevolence towards the citizens is a topic of legitimacy of power far exceeded by the liberal and democratic politics.
Democrazia e liberalismo appaiono oggi riferimenti ineludibili di ogni discorso politico. Nessun governo europeo, ma a ben vedere lo stesso vale per tutti gli stati riconosciuti come «pienamente legittimi» dalla comunità internazionale, potrebbe ormai definirsi contrario ai valori di libertà e di autonomia individuale attraverso i quali ogni teoria della liberal-democrazia definisce tale forma di governo. Per quanto il rapporto fra libertà e autonomia sia tutt’altro che pacifico dal punto di vista teorico e nonostante democrazia e liberalismo siano state per lungo tempo ideologie rivali, esse fanno tradizionalmente fronte comune contro ogni tipo di autoritarismo. Il democratico e il liberale concordano sul presupposto ideale secondo il quale l’individuo è il miglior giudice delle proprie scelte, tanto nell’arena pubblica in cui è uguale a tutti gli altri cittadini nel diritto di influenzare le decisioni esercitando il proprio diritto di voto, tanto nella sfera privata in cui pretende che lo stato rispetti e faccia rispettare i diritti di libertà dei singoli. A fronte di tali considerazioni, appare quanto mai curioso che, nonostante il consenso pressoché unanime attorno alla forma di governo «liberal-democratica», si torni oggi a parlare diffusamente di paternalismo. L’accostamento qui proposto di due nozioni apparentemente ossimoriche come paternalismo e neoliberalismo – espressione usata sempre più di frequente per marcare alternativamente la continuità e la discontinuità del pensiero egemonico contemporaneo con il liberalismo classico – nasce proprio dalla necessità di ripensare alcune caratteristiche di quelle che si è soliti definire «democrazie liberali». Da un lato, i capisaldi della teoria democratica appaiono oggi vieppiù sfidati da nuove forme di leaderismo carismatico e di depoliticizzazione tecnocratica. Ne sono lampanti esempi, da un lato la tendenziale trasformazione dei processi elettorali in riti plebiscitari e dall’altro il ricorso a governi tecnici come rassicurante panacea per la crisi economica. Dall’altro, il principio liberale proposto da John Stuart Mill del «danno a terzi» come limite dell’intrusione dello stato nella sfera privata appare superato dalla sempre maggiore invasione dei poteri pubblici nelle scelte dei singoli, in nome di complessi calcoli circa l’utilità sociale. Come è stato notato: «dappertutto si fanno inni al libero mercato, e dappertutto gli Stati intervengono sempre più invasivamente nella vita privata. Dov’è il limite al diritto di intervento dello Stato sulle nostre abitudini? Un giorno non lontano la Nutella sarà classificata come droga e il jogging sarà obbligatorio. E tutto grazie a dati inoppugnabili». L’esigenza di tornare a ragionare di una categoria apparentemente desueta come quella di «paternalismo» nasce quindi, dalla costatazione che la benevolenza verso i cittadini è un argomento di legittimazione del potere tutt’altro che superato dalla politica democratica e liberale.
Ripensare il paternalismo in epoca neoliberale / Sau, Raffaella; Cuono, M.. - In: MERIDIANA. - ISSN 0394-4115. - 79:(2014), pp. 29-46.
Ripensare il paternalismo in epoca neoliberale
SAU, Raffaella;
2014-01-01
Abstract
Democracy and liberalism seems today inescapable references to political discourse. No European government, but in hindsight the same applies to all states recognized as "fully legitimate" by the international community, could now be defined as contrary to the values of freedom and individual autonomy through which any theory of liberal democracy defines this form of government. The relationship between freedom and autonomy is far from peaceful theoretical point of view; and despite democracy and liberalism have been for a long time rival ideologies, they are traditionally t against any kind of authoritarianism. The democratic and the liberal agree on the assumption ideal according to which the individual is the best judge of their own choices, both in the public arena both in the private sphere in which it claims that the state respects and enforce the rights and freedoms of the individual. Moving from these considerations, it seems very curious that, despite the overwhelming consensus about the form of "liberal-democratic" government, go back today to talk at length about paternalism. The juxtaposition of two seemingly contradictory notions such as neoliberalism and paternalism - an expression used more and more frequently to mark either the continuity and discontinuity of hegemonic thinking with contemporary classical liberalism - emerged from the need to rethink some of those features that is usually to define "liberal democracies". On the one hand, the cornerstones of democratic theory now seem increasingly challenged by new forms of charismatic leaderism and technocratic depoliticization (the trend transformation of electoral processes in plebiscitary rites and the governments recourse to technical reassuring as a panacea for the economic crisis). On the other hand, the liberal principle proposed by John Stuart Mill 's as a limit against the intrusion of the state into the private sphere is exceeded by the increasing invasion of the public authorities in the choices of the individual, in the name of the complex calculations about “social utility”. As already pointed out several years ago "everywhere you are hymns to the free market, and all over the states intervening ever more invasively into the private lives. Where is the limit on the right of state intervention on our habits?”. The need to go back to thinking of a category seemingly obsolete as that of "paternalism" emerges then from the observation that the benevolence towards the citizens is a topic of legitimacy of power far exceeded by the liberal and democratic politics.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.