Foundation for subsidiarity
| Non-profit cultural organization | |
| Industry | Socio-economic think tanks |
| Founded | Milan, 2002 |
| Headquarters | Milan, Italy |
Area served | Europe, United States |
Key people | |
Number of employees |
No. of staff: 8 No. of research associates: around 20 |
| Website | ilsussidiario.net |
Foundation for Subsidiarity (Fondazione per la Sussidiarietà) is an Italian think tank founded in Milan, Italy, in 2002 with the goal to enrich cultural-scientific discourse and promote a vision of society based on the centrality of the person and the principle of subsidiarity. Through its projects, the Foundation has created a network of multidisciplinary collaborations both nationally and internationally.
Mission
The mission of the Foundation for Subsidiarity is to inspire cultural-scientific discourse and promote a vision of society based on the centrality of the person and the principle of subsidiarity, which affirms the primacy of the person over society and of society over the state. As such, all decisions pertaining to general well-being ought to be made as close as possible at the level of the individual.
The Foundation’s work is grounded in research carried out by academic departments in the following areas: Subsidiarity; Education, Training and Human Capital; Welfare and Social Enterprise; Work and Economy; Human Rights and Multiculturalism; Cooperation for Development; Public Administration; Public Utilities and Infrastructure.
Activities
To achieve its goals, the Foundation is involved in activities which include: research, professional training, publications, seminars and conferences on social, economic and political themes.
Studies and Research
Study and research activities are carried out in collaboration with academic scholars (who offer diverse competences and methodologies) and experts who propose research and statistical data processing methods.
Every year, the Foundation investigates the level of diffusion, application and impact of the principle of subsidiarity in a particular social, economic or institutional domain. The research results are published in a
yearly Report on Subsidiarity.
Other research topics include poverty and food poverty, cooperation and development, public services and local governments, migration, the labour market, and entrepreneurship.
Education
The Foundation’s educational activity falls under the following categories:
- Advanced executive education: master programs and international schools for public officers, managers and entrepreneurs of profit and non-profit entities. The programs are offered in collaboration with prestigious institutions and graduate schools.
- School of subsidiarity and school of profit and non-profit business: courses centred on the welfare system, economic development, profit and non-profit entrepreneurship, and subsidiarity in general. They are offered throughout the country.
- Insights and lectures: seminars for undergraduate and graduate students.
Publications
The Foundation’s cultural work has given life to a broad variety of editorial initiatives. The principal instrument used for the dissemination of information is ilsussidiario.net, an on-line daily which combines current events with in-depth examinations and is followed by three million unique visitors per month from two hundred countries.
In-depth coverage of the Foundation’s activities can be found in the online magazine Atlantide (http://atlantide.ilsussidiario.net). It provides a careful analysis of the Foundation’s core topics based on a scientific committee of academics and opinion-makers from a wide array of disciplines and schools of thought. They include: Salvatore Abbruzzese, Lorenzo Albacete, Salvo Andò, Helmut K. Anheier, Luca Antonini, Augusto Barbera, Pietro Barcellona, Paolo Blasi, Massimo Borghesi, Giampio Bracchi Luigi Campiglio, Paolo Carozza, Giorgio Chiosso, Ferruccio De Bortoli, Adriano De Maio, Pierpaolo Donati, Costantino Esposito, Giorgio Feliciani, Massimo Gaggi, Oscar Giannino, Mary Ann Glendon, Pietro Ichino, Giorgio Israel, Carlo Lauro, Pierre Manent, Giovanni Marseguerra, John Milbank, Lorenzo Ornaghi, Adrian Pabst, Vittorio Emanuele Parsi, Carlo Pelanda, Pierbattista Pizzaballa, Antonio Polito, Javier Prades, Alberto Quadrio Curzio, Antonio Quaglio, Eddo Rigotti, Fabio Roversi Monaco, Lester M. Salamon, Dominick Salvatore, Giulio Sapelli, Eugenia Scabini, Carlo Secchi, Francesco Sisci, Giorgio Vittadini, John Waters, Joseph H.H. Weiler, and Stefano Zamagni.
Areas of interest
A traditional area of interest for the Foundation is the non-profit world; more specifically, social enterprises that offer services in the so-called welfaresectors: education, health, assistance and culture. The citizens choice has been acknowledged and advocated by government institutions in order to promote reforms that support the mutual help principle and the principle of subsidiarity. The Foundation’s work has contributed to introducing the principle of subsidiarity to the Italian Constitution.
The centrality of investment in human capital has been addressed. A great deal of attention has also been dedicated to the theme of education (which includes emerging questions in education such as: the diminishing role of ideals and cultural traditions, the lack of resources, the need for quality evaluations, the negligible place given to freedom of education). A part of the cultural work is also created in favour of the world of enterprises and public utilities. The Foundation’s work is also involved in deepening awareness on the methodological value of interventions of international cooperation and aid for the development of less advanced countries.