The Different Trajectories of Italian Electoral Reforms

Catalysts and barriers: Explaining electoral reform in Western Europe

“…This is an indication that the effect of the catalysts is not really consistent. For instance, while research suggests that electoral volatility influenced the 1993 Italian electoral reform (Baldini ), electoral volatility does not seem to have a consistent effect on the likelihood of electoral reform. Indeed, there were several instances of even higher electoral volatility that did not correlate with the introduction of electoral reforms, such as Portugal in 1979 (30.16 per cent), Spain in 1982 (35.82 per cent) and even Italy in 1994 (the first election after the reform was introduced; 48.35 per cent).…”

“…The party system that had been in place for decades collapsed and electoral volatility in the 1992 elections reached record levels. Indeed, the electoral context of Italian politics seems to have played a role (among other factors) in the reform process (Baldini : 651). Therefore, under circumstances of high electoral volatility, governments are more likely to introduce electoral reforms that compensate for the threats caused by the electoral uncertainty (cf.…”

Reconceptualising Electoral Reform

“…For example, the rational choice perspective provided important first steps in explaining the causes of electoral change, but once we get into the more complex issue of how the reform process unfolds, these parsimonious approaches quickly become unglued. We need theories that include a wider set of actors and broaden our perspective to encompass those reforms that passed, along with those that did not (Baldini 2011;Hooghe and Deschouwer 2011;Nikolenyi 2011).…”

“…In the real world, however, there will be a high level of uncertainty in terms of its effects, since reforms affect several dimensions of political life (Colomer 2005;Taagepera and Shugart 1989), as well as uncertainty over the reactions of other actors. All this makes a rational choice based decision about a specific electoral system quite difficult (Andrews and Jackman 2005;Baldini 2011). Reynolds, Reilly and Ellis (2005) argued that sometimes historically unique events cause electoral reform, and at other times electoral systems are adopted almost semiconsciously.…”

The unfinished story of electoral reforms in Italy

“…This was not a novelty for Italy. According to Baldini (2011), the history of post-World War II electoral reforms in Italy has followed a pattern of cyclical salience, characterised by an initial reform geared towards conception of the public interest (such as in 1946 and 1993) and then by a backlash from the political elite which has made changes to suit its own best interests (such as in 1953 and 2005); other reforms have followed to redress the imbalance. 7.…”