RIGHT TO FOOD AND “TRAGEDY” OF THE COMMONS

Abstract

Without claiming of exhaustivity, this work aims at verifying the possibility to consider food as a common good from a juridical perspective. In fact, it seems that so far the Italian constitutional doctrine has not covered this particular aspect – anything but irrelevant – in the studies dealing with these theories. Therefore, I will try hereafter to make some short reflections from a constitutional perspective, with the purpose of showing the quantity of difficulties that can be encountered if one considers this hypothesis, i.e. if one places the right to food not only beyond the «private», but also beyond the «public» dimension provided by the Constitution. Ultimately, after identifying some critical aspects of the doctrines of common goods, I will try to examine the possibility to guarantee all people the fundamental right to access to food by using the «public utilities made available by the local government». Otherwise, if we let the laws of the market be the ones that can guarantee food, we risk legitimizing a “juridical paradox†that the constitutional order (at least the Italian one) by no means can tolerate.