Il consenso nel pensiero politico d’ispirazione cristiana: Antonio Rosmini, Luigi Sturzo, Jacques Maritain.

Over the centuries, almost all political thinkers have been interested in the various forms of legitimisation of power and the consequent relationship between rulers and ruled. The paradigm of consensus, which, as it is well known, concerns any form of constituted power, takes on a particular significance when referring to the democratic system, at the basis of which is the assumption that it legitimises itself from the bottom up. Issues such as popular sovereignty, the control of political power and its limits, parties, public opinion – elements of intermediation between society and the state –were at the centre of the debate that began with the French Revolution. The paper aims to compare three authoritative exponents of political thought of Christian inspiration, Antonio Rosmini (1797-1855) Luigi Sturzo (1871-1959) and Jacques Maritain (1882-1973) who, with different nuances, elaborated theories and expressed criticisms on the ways of legitimising the political regime. And, certainly, they contributed, each for their part, to the genesis and development of a Christian concept of democracy.