How personal parties change: party organisation and (in)discipline in Italy (1994–2013)

Abstract

The rise of personal parties is one of the most relevant and innovative political phenomena to emerge from the Italian Second Republic. During the 1990s, Forza Italia presented a new type of party political organisation where personalisation, professionalisation and centralisation represented the keys to success that led Silvio Berlusconi to three general election victories, and that were soon variously taken up by both the centre-right and centre-left coalitions. Yet, two decades after Berlusconi entered politics, the personalisation of politics is showing another face, being no longer confined to party leadership, but affecting the party at all levels. Italian political parties seem to be split into a large number of components headed by sub-leaders. With the complicity of the new electoral system, a process of personalistic atomisation has threatened the cohesiveness -and sometimes the very survival -of Italy's most consolidated political organisations. In this article, after an analysis of the evolution of personal parties in the Italian context, attention will be paid to some indicators of intra-party individualism, such as the proliferation of parliamentary groups, frequent party switching and indiscipline in carrying out legislative activities. The analysis of leadership-driven transformations occurring in party structures (the so-called party in central office) will be combined with an investigation of what is happening in representative institutions (the party in public office).

Personal leaders and party change: Italy in comparative perspective

“…One of the most significant innovations made by the Italian Democratic Party was the use of primaries to nominate candidates to Parliament, which were called 'parlamentarie'. These took place on 29-30 December 2013 to choose about 85% (782 out of 918) of PD candidates for the two parliamentary houses, with the remaining candidates directly nominated by the PD leader (Musella, 2014a).…”

“…Yet, it remains to be investigated to what extent the party leader is able to realize political programmes, in a context in which personalization, while leading to a reinforcement of the figure of party leaders, also challenges party cohesion. With respect to the Italian case, it has to be observed that strong and visible party leaders have coexisted with high levels of party indiscipline, thus showing that the autonomy of the leader in the party's internal decision-making procedures is not the same thing as the ability to direct MPs (Musella, 2014b). Although after Tangentopoli the rise of the personal party identified with Forza Italia has implied both the creation of a new model of party organization and the adoption of a more plebiscitary idea of political representation (Calise, 2010(Calise, [2000), two decades later the personalization of politics has shown another side, as it has involved not simply the higher levels of a party's organization, but all levels.…”

“…Although the leader performs several institutional duties, and is often a member of Parliament (MP), minister, or head of government too, this is the arena where they have experienced more problems during the last few years. In fact, while personalization of politics has strengthened the leader, it does not relate just to the higher levels of party organizations, but to all its levels and articulations, reducing the degree of their cohesiveness and deeply influencing party behaviour in representative institutions (Musella, 2012). Thus, it remains to be investigated how and to what extent the party leader is able to realize his/her political programme in the new context.…”

Referéndum constitucional en Italia y plebiscito territorial en Brasil. Un enfoque sistémico de gobernanza

“…27 El politólogo Fortunato Musella analisiza la personaficación en los partidos políticos. En la ultima decada del siglo pasado se caracterizo por el surgimiento de los «partidos personales es uno de los fenómenos políticos más relevantes e innovadores» (Musella, 2014). 28 No entraremos aquí a valorar la legitimidad de las decisiones con mayorías o de escasas mayorías.…”

Renzi: the government, the party, the future of Italian politics

“…Moreover, all parliamentary groups have exhibited a high level of lack of discipline (see the very good account by Musella [2014]). But despite some mergers -for instance, the one between the Left Democrats and the Margherita (Daisy, made up mostly of former Christian Democrats turned Popolari) that in 2007 formed the Democratic Party -overall the Italian party system has not been restructured at all.…”