La comunità “liberale”. Forme del legame politico tra dono e scambio

Contemporary philosophical and political debates relentlessly investigated the nature and the limits of political community and a number of very different criticisms have been put forward against the predominance of individualistic and utilitarian principles in contemporary societies. In this contribution, I will discuss the role of gift theory in interpreting modern and contemporary visions of political community. Hence, I will focus on the basic tenets of the ideas of liberality and political exchange expressed in “civil conversazione”, reason of state and in sovereignty theories in order to highlight how the multifaceted and controversial implications of the act of princely/sovereign “liberality”. The plurality of political relations established through liberality, largesse and dépense may, in fact, help us in understanding the dark face of political community as well as the political nature of homo oeconomicus. But they also show why the act of donating can easily transfigure itself in a strict political bond.