II Constitutional Jurisprudence, 6 Regionalism

Italy has a unitary rather than a federal state, and thus the constitutional system has evolved toward an increasingly complex and dynamic set of interactions between the national government and the several regions of Italy. The Court’s case law dramatically reflects that shift where disputes regarding the allocation of authority between regional and national states account for a sharply increasing proportion of the Constitutional Court’s work. This chapter presents that body of jurisprudence and thereby offers helpful points of reference and comparison for the many other constitutional systems around the world grappling with the challenges of drawing a healthy balance between local autonomy and national unity.