For a return to the Etudes sur les sciences sociales. Local autonomy and territorial wealth according to Sismondi

Abstract

The article aims to analyse the Etudes sur les sciences sociales, published by Sismondi between 1836 and 1838, conducted in the light of the theses not only of the historians of Italian thinking who have determined the revival of interest in the Genevan’s doctrine, but also of very relevant works on issues of the growth and degrowth of the world economy. In particular, Pioletti focuses attention on the question of the territories: for the social scientist Sismondi at the end of the 1830s, they are functional and ideally constitutional units, where rules and customs apply that alone can deal with the risks of haphazard economic growth. Small localities, small estates: from these elements Sismondi also draws inspiration for an original theory of government – and for the national and local relations in the modern States – which, albeit presenting itself in 1836, was clearly affected by an interest that had been manifested in the historiographic field from 1807.