Sommario: 

1. «Tirannide e saggezza». Democrazia liberale («demarchia»?) e autorità indipendenti: una convivenza difficile ma necessaria nello Stato di diritto.

2.1. Democrazia «deliberativa» versus oligarchia; partecipazione versus democrazia processuale. 

2.2. Critica dell’ideologia «bene comunista» e valorizzazione della «dicotomia pubblico/privato». 

3. Segue. Il «teorema di Coase». Servizi pubblici e «fallimenti» di Stato e mercato: la risposta regolatoria e la legittimazione politica. 

4.1. Il regolamento AEEG sulla partecipazione procedimentale ad atti generali: un caso paradigmatico? 

4.2. Le procedure di consultazione e il nuovo regolamento AEEGSI. 

5. Ruolo del giudice amministrativo, oppure altro: art. 24 Cost., «giusto processo» e pluralismo degli ordinamenti. Quale «giustizia per i mercati»?

Abstract: 

This essay is a critical analysis of decisions issued by the Italian Regulatory Authority for Electricity Gas and Water (AEEGSI, former AEEG) that have introduced very advanced mechanisms of public participation in the adoption of general administrative acts. The article focuses on recent controversial case law of the Italian State Council. The purposes and administrative tools of these procedures – regardless of their possible deflationary aim – is framed in the context of legal analysis of the nature of Independent Administrative Authorities and the assumption that their full democratic legitimacy is based on technical expertise , as it is recognized by law in accordance with the principle of separation of powers. It is also well rooted in the denial of both the needs and opportunities of different views of liberal and representative democracy, and the proposal for solutions far from regulation of the market, as the ideology of the «commons», as well as alternatives to the classic judicial review onthe legality of acts of Independent Authorities, such as alternative dispute resolut