Living Parallel Lives: Italy and Greece in an Age of Austerity

Abstract

The economic crisis has triggered a process of political convergence between Italy and Greece. The simultaneous downfall of the Italian and Greek governments, following the public withdrawal of European confidence in their ability to handle the crisis, was followed by the establishment of technocrat-led governments based on parliamentary 'super-majorities' and then by 'protest elections', marked by unprecedented levels of electoral volatility. By apparently ending bipolarism, the crisis has completely changed patterns of national government formation and resulted in experiments with unusual government types. Both political systems have entered a transitional phase whose outcome is anything but certain, especially in the continuing context of economic crisis.

‘Mild Mannered’? Protest and Mobilisation in Portugal under Austerity, 2010–2013

“…Across Southern European countries, trust in public institutions has been decreasing (Matthijs 2014), while electoral participation is at an historic low. Social conflict has taken various forms across the different countries of southern Europe: in Italy it has been expressed in the emergence of a new political party, the Five Star Movement (Baldini 2013;Bartlett et al 2013;Bordignon and Ceccarin 2013;Verney and Bosco 2013), whereas Greece experienced a fragmentation of the vote and violent polarisation of protest, as well as the appearance of direct democracy movements (Verney and Bosco 2013;Kousis and Karakioulafi 2013;Sotirakopoulos and Sotiropoulos 2013).…”

More Second-Order than Ever? The 2014 European Election in Portugal

“…In sum, it seems the protest against the mainstream parties, which was already apparent in national elections in Greece and Italy (Bosco & Verney 2012;Verney & Bosco 2013), showed its true colours in the 2014 European election in Portugal, one year before the legislative election, while both the level of incumbent punishment and Source: Author's calculations from data available in CNE (2009 -14) and DGAI-MAI (2004 -14). Notes: *Total volatility (TV) ¼ (jPiV j þ jPjVj þ jPkVj þ jPlVj .…”

The Impact of the Greek Indignados on Greek Politics

“…To provide a benchmark, a combined 6.4 million ballots had been cast for nd and pasok in 2004. The May 2012 election was one of the most volatile elections in European history, with almost half of the voters changing their preference (Verney and Bosco 2013). Many analysts, using data from the Eurobarometer and other surveys, explain the collapse of the two-party system as an outcome of steadily deteriorating figures for Greeks' trust in democracy and other political institutions, claiming moreover that the violent urban riots of December 2008 had already sent the message to the dwindling political system (Verney 2014;Pappas and O'Malley 2014).…”