Nicolò Paolo Alessi and Chiara Salati
Institutional pluralism, the traditional focus of federal studies, is increasingly complemented by forms of governance that challenge constitutional (and federal) theory by unveiling the complexity of policymaking beyond the traditional representative channels. Constitutional scholarship is today faced with the challenge of incorporating into its general theory the contribution that comes not only from institutional pluralism but also from governance models: such a theorization, in fact, is yet to be developed by existing scholarship. This lack makes the analysis of such practices mainly descriptive, with this preventing a deeper understanding of societal pluralism as well as the development of classifications and normative proposals. This essay aims indeed to engage with this need for theoretical recognition by taking on Palermo’s suggestion that federal theory and practice may be one of the best suited, if not the best, tools to build a unitary theoretical account on societal pluralism and governance. To do so, the essay focuses on a particular form of governance that is emerging and consolidating, especially in Europe: the commons. The work proposes a federal reading of the commons and attempts to prove its usefulness in providing a theoretical framework capable of classifying them and fostering their development.
