Abstract

Assuming Norberto Bobbio's complex character, which melted the jurist and the politi¬cal philosopher who moved between different disciplines and their theoretical frame¬works, the essay provides a critical insight into the relationship between the rules of democracy and the conditions of validity of legal norms, pointing out the inconsistency between a purely formal conception of democracy and the substantial feature of the constitutional regimes established after the II World War. Therefore, while the distinc¬tion between what the law is and what it ought to be is maintained as a main foundation of a laic State, a substantial conception of democracy and law is reasserted, looking at the degree of normative guarantees and their effectuality.