Abstract (in inglese)
The present contribution – stemming from an ongoing research – originates from the remark that, in recent years, the regions, in various contexts and under different profiles, are in need of revision or reform, and, consequently, it questions the continuing appropriateness of a system of sub-state territorial articulation, such as the regional one. To this end, it proposes, on the one hand, to adopt a comparative approach, referring to the experiences of three countries – Italy, France and Spain – which, if considered from the point of view of their respective forms of internal territorial articulation, seem to have, at the same time, elements of commonality, but also of differentiation; on the other hand, as a key to interpreting the evolution of regionalism, it envisages the recourse to the notion of “sustainability”, nowadays widely spread – if not even abused – in current language and progressively emerging also as a new principle of law.