Pensieri sulla democrazia: Res Publica (Parigi 1945-1947) e il dibattito politico-istituzionale all'indomani della seconda Guerra mondiale

The international journal Res Publica, founded in Bruxelles in 1931 - under the impulse of Luigi Sturzo - by Francesco Luigi Ferrari, formidable opponent of fascist regime, in 1933 suspended its publications after its young founder's premature death. According to Ferrari and Sturzo, Res publica represented the instrument to spread democratic culture and to allow Italian people, as soon as they got rid of Fascist dictatorship, to renovate institutions. In October 1945, Res publica resumed publications with renewed goals. The end of war, of Nazism, of fascism, encouraged editors to reclaim European Union, federalism, spirit of brotherhood and international peace. The essay aims to analize the political and institutional debate, dealt with on the new series of Res publica, and supported by Comitè de Direction, composed of Dominique Russo, Frèdèric Bieuyck, Antonin Cagnolati, Bernard Lavergne, George Scelle Maurice Vaussard. «La paix extérieure – they wrote in opening of its first number – n'est rien sans la paix intérieure, qui ne peut être garantie que par les régimes représentatifs». The experience gained before the war, proved that parliamentary systems, established in some European states, were not able to protect democratic institutions. Consequently, a radical reform of institutions was required to prevent new dictatorships and new “total wars”.