The Politics of Italy

Abstract

This innovative text offers a completely fresh approach to Italian politics by placing it in its historical, institutional, social and international contexts. Students will get to grips with the theories and concepts of comparative politics and how they apply specifically to Italy, while gaining real insight into more controversial topics such as the Mafia, corruption and the striking success of Berlusconi. The textbook uses clear and simple language to critically analyze Italy's institutions, its political culture, parties and interest groups, public policy, and its place in the international system. Often regarded as an anomaly, Italy is frequently described in terms of 'crisis', 'instability' and 'alienation'. Sceptical of these conventional accounts, Newell argues that, if understood in its own terms, the Italian political system is just as effective as other established democracies. With features including text boxes and further reading suggestions, this is an unbeatable introduction to the politics of Italy.

The 2013 elections and the Italian political system

“…All of them are challenged and bound to change. Contrary to what James Newell (2010) has deliberately conveyed in the title of his very good book on the Italian political system, it is somewhat difficult to believe that Berlusconi, Grillo, the Porcellum and its successor and a semipresidential President thriving in a parliamentary Republic are all features representing the hallmarks of a 'normal country'. Outlier or not, the Italian parliamentary Republic offers too many unusual and abnormal elements in its…”

Person‐based politics in Italy and Slovenia: comparing cases of leadership's individualisation

“…They strongly contributed to the undermining of confidence in politics and politicians. The bad image of political institutions, especially political parties, regardless of their ideological orientation, became predominant in the assessments of the population (see, for example, Bull and Newell ; Newell ). This development opened space for personalised and sometimes “non‐political” platforms in the political contest.…”

“…In this way, the centrist parties and especially DC lost ground for the ideological mobilisation of their supporters on the platform of anti‐communism. The new conditions offered direct encouragement for judicial investigations of political corruption since the investigators understood that exposing the corrupt established politicians would not mean the risk of bringing the communists to power (Newell , p.32).…”

“…The crumbling of the previous Italian political system led to the formation of a political setting, declared by some authors, as an Italian “Second Republic” (Blondel and Thiebault ; Newell ). The tripartite structure of political space (with far right, far left, and the centre permanently in office) was replaced by a bipolar structure which is typical for most contemporary democracies, with a centre‐leftist and centre‐rightist camp alternating in power.…”

Italy: reformers without reforms?

“…The picture that emerges seems to locate Italy in an intermediate position somewhere between the 'sick man of Europe' (Andrews 2005;Mammone and Veltri 2010) and a case of 'normality' (Newell 2010), thus considering the country more as a special case than an anomaly strictly speaking. Considering the bleak times we are living in, this is in itself a reason for optimism.…”