Tre separazioni dei poteri: vecchia, nuova e nuovissima

The separation of powers (henceforth SP) is conceived here as an evolutionary device for the self-control of power, grown in England, then designed in Usa, and forcefully returned to the attention of political philosophers and social scientists in the last twenty years. In the evolution of constitutionalism, at least three SPs have thus stratified and overlapped. The “old” SP, firstly adopted by Montesquieu as a remedy for French absolutism, was re-designed by James Madison in the context of a federal state. The “new” SP, as a remedy for the concentration of public functions in the executive power and specifically in its administration, was proposed as an alternative to the crisis of both British parliamentarism and US presidentialism. Lastly, the “newest” SP seeks to control global powers, including private ones such as Bigh Tech, by multiplying the international courts and authorities. In short, many of the chances of survival and further diffusion of pluralist liberal democracies rely precisely on the synergy between these three SPs.