Abstract

The article investigates the conditions under which the principle of horizontal subsidiarity can become a catalyst for democratic participation, interpreting it in continuity with the principle of political solidarity. It outlines an innovative institutional dynamic in which collective social formations can pursue the general interest outside a logic of subordination to politics, indeed assuming an intrinsic political character themselves. The possibility of social formations realizing the common interest disrupts the modern architecture of sovereignty, yet the confinement of the principle to the administrative sphere has partially weakened its innovative potential. Only by deconstructing the canonical relationship between politics and administration can we enhance the essential connection between the principle of horizontal subsidiarity and the principle of solidarity, towards an expansion of spaces for democratic participation.