Abstract

The relationship between democracy and administration can be ambiguous: autonomy favours democracy but the complexity of a regional system can make administration more difficult. The representativeness of the regional bodies does not exhaust the democratic scope of the Region: regional administration is also democratic insofar as it is participatory and capable of meeting citizens’ interests. Another aspect of tension concerns the relationship between the demands for uniformity in the name of equality and that for differentiation inherent in autonomy. An example is, in the Italian system, the choice of considering the regulation of administrative procedure, the place par excellence of the democracy in the administration, as reserved to the state. The criterion of subsidiarity that inspires the Italian system of distribution of administrative functions necessarily implies the strengthening of the instruments of cooperation between State and Regions.