Il diritto che libera. Crisi del paradigma costituzionale e ascesa dell’etica neo-liberale

As an analytic exercise in political theory, this essay is a short inquiry into the nature and causes of the ongoing process of erosion of parliamentary democracy in view of the ascending influence exercised, in many spheres of life, by the neo-liberal ideological paradigm on a global scale. On the one hand, the essay constitutes an attempt at shedding light on the historically significant, yet controversial, relationship between democractic theory, constitutionalism and liberalism. On the other hand, it examines some of the main features of the Gordian knot that joins neo-liberalism to liberalism. One of the main scopes of the essay is to address, and possibly answer, the question of the hidden normative assumptions of liberal theory for the purpose of establishing whether neo-liberal liberty is annihilating liberal-democracy. In doing so, special attention has been paid to the issue of the nature and function of law in the context at hand.