Subsidiarity: positive anthropology and social organization: foundations for a new conception of State and Market and key elements of the experience in Lombardy

Over the past three legislative periods, the Lombardy government has based much of its action on the affirmation of subsidiarity. This has been translated into policies having different forms and solutions, affected both by the degree of innovation of the concept - largely unknown in the Italian and international political panorama in the early nineties - and by many institutional and administrative contingencies. Sometimes there have been structured and structural solutions, other times bold intuitions, and still other times adjustments, adaptations and necessary approximations. The result has been a rich and complex panorama of political, legislative and administrative initiatives, which we considered worth discussing in order to better understand their reach and limits. For this purpose, since autumn 2006 a programme has been in place to define and theoretically systemize the experience underway, involving the highest management levels of the Lombardy Government. "Defining" and "systemizing" the experience has meant reflecting critically upon the policy actions promoted, understanding their constituent elements (aims, beneficiaries, objectives, methods, etc.), their results and prospects. The objective was to increase awareness concerning the model of subsidiarity among those involved in its application and thus to develop their capacity for implementation, discussion and communication of that model. The text goes on to consider the subsidiarity model in Lombardy in three sectors: education, training and labour; social care services; and healthcare, but above all to explore future solutions.