Subsidiarity
Subsidiarity is a principle of social organization that holds that social and political issues should be dealt with at the most immediate or local level that is consistent with their resolution. The Oxford English Dictionary defines subsidiarity as "the principle that a central authority should have a subsidiary function, performing only those tasks which cannot be performed at a more local level".[1] The concept is applicable in the fields of government, political science, neuropsychology, cybernetics, management and in military command (mission command). The OED adds that the term "subsidiarity" in English follows the early German usage of "Subsidiarität".[2] More distantly, it is derived from the Latin verb subsidio (to aid or help), and the related noun subsidium (aid or assistance).
Not to be confused with Subsidiary or Subsidy.
The development of the concept of subsidiarity has roots in the natural law philosophy of Thomas Aquinas and was mediated by the social scientific theories of Luigi Taparelli, SJ, in his 1840–43 natural law treatise on the human person in society.[3] In that work, Taparelli established the criteria of just social order, which he referred to as "hypotactical right" and which came to be termed subsidiarity following German influences.[4]
Another origin of the concept is in the writings of Calvinist law-philosopher Johannes Althaus who used the word "subsidia" in 1603.[5][6] As a principle of just social order, it became one of the pillars of modern Catholic social teaching.[3][7] Subsidiarity is a general principle of European Union law. In the United States of America, Article VI, Paragraph 2 of the constitution of the United States is known as the Supremacy Clause. This establishes that the federal constitution, and federal law generally, take precedence over state laws, and even state constitutions.[8] The principle of States' Rights is sometimes interpreted as being established by the Tenth Amendment, which says that "The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people."
Alexis de Tocqueville's classic study, Democracy in America, may be viewed as an examination of the operation of the principle of subsidiarity in early 19th century America. Tocqueville noted that the French Revolution began with "a push towards decentralization… in the end, an extension of centralization".[9] He wrote that "Decentralization has, not only an administrative value, but also a civic dimension, since it increases the opportunities for citizens to take interest in public affairs; it makes them get accustomed to using freedom. And from the accumulation of these local, active, persnickety freedoms, is born the most efficient counterweight against the claims of the central government, even if it were supported by an impersonal, collective will."[10]
As Christian Democratic political parties were formed, they adopted the Catholic social teaching of subsidiarity, as well as the neo-Calvinist theological teaching of sphere sovereignty, with both Catholics and Protestants agreeing "that the principles of sphere sovereignty and subsidiarity boiled down to the same thing".[11]
The term "subsidiarity" is also used to refer to a tenet of some forms of conservative or libertarian thought in the United States. For example, conservative author Reid Buckley writes:
The United Nations Development Programme's 1999 report on decentralisation noted that subsidiarity was an important principle. It quoted one definition:
According to Richard Macrory, the positive effects of a political/economic system governed by the principle of subsidiarity include:[14]
He writes that the negative effects of a political/economic system governed by the principle of subsidiarity include: