Hostname: page-component-848d4c4894-hfldf Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-05-26T08:14:31.365Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

The sunrise of the Third Republic? The evolution of the Italian party-system after the 2008 general election and the prospects for constitutional reform

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Emanuele Massetti
Emanuele Massetti*
Affiliation:
University of Sussex, UK
*
∗Email: e.massetti@sussex.ac.uk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

The results of the 2008 Italian general election were welcomed by many as the ‘sunrise of the Third Republic’, heralding a new political system which would emerge from a comprehensive constitutional reform agreed between the main parties of government and opposition. The party system now looks significantly different from that (or those) of the ‘Second Republic’. In particular, the disappearance of the radical left from Parliament and a clear reduction in the number of parties are the main factors underpinning optimistic predictions about a possible compromise on constitutional reform. Drawing on Sartori's classic work as well as on more recent conceptualisations of party systems, this article analyses the evolution of the Italian party system over the medium and long term. It is cautious, if not pessimistic, about the prospects for reform. High levels of polarisation, stemming from different conceptions of democracy maintained by the two main parties, can be expected to hinder bipartisan reform. In particular, the figure of Berlusconi appears to represent both the cornerstone of the ‘reconstructed’ party system and the main obstacle to a widely agreed re-drafting of the Constitution.

Keywords

Italyparty-systempolarisationBerlusconiconstitutional reform
Type
Contexts & Debates
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 14 , Issue 4 , November 2009 , pp. 485 - 498
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Bardi, Luciano, and Peter, Mair. 2008. The parameters of party systems. Party Politics 14, no. 2: 147–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bardi, Luciano. 2007. Electoral change and its impact on the party-system in Italy. West European Politics 30, no. 4: 711–32.Google Scholar
Bartolini, Stefano, Chiaramonte, Alessandro, and D'Alimonte, Roberto. 2004. The Italian party system between parties and coalitions. West European Politics 27, no. 1: 1–19.Google Scholar
Bogaards, Matthijs. 2005. The Italian First Republic: Degenerated consociationalism in a polarized party system. West European Politics 28, no. 3: 503–20.Google Scholar
Bull, M. and Rhodes, M.. 2007. Introduction – Italy: A contested polity. West European Politics 30, no. 4: 657–69.Google Scholar
Bull, Martin, and Pasquino, Gianfranco. 2007. A long quest in vain: Institutional reforms in Italy. West European Politics 30, no. 4: 670–91.Google Scholar
Bull, Martin, and Newell, James. 1993. Italian politics and the 1992 elections: From stable instability to instability and change. Parliamentary Affairs 46, no. 2: 203–27.Google Scholar
Bull, Martin, and Newell, James. 2009. Still an anomalous democracy? Politics and institutions in Italy. Government and Opposition 44, no. 1: 42–67.Google Scholar
Bull, Martin, and Rhodes, Martin. 1997. Between crisis and transition: Italian politics in the 1990s. West European Politics 20, no. 1: 1–13.Google Scholar
Calise, Mauro. 2006. La Terza Repubblica: Partiti contro presidenti . Rome: Editori Laterza.Google Scholar
Carbone, Maurizio, and Newell, James. 2008. Towards the end of a long transition? Bipolarity and instability in Italy's changing political system. Politics 28, no. 3: 138–49.Google Scholar
Ceccarelli, Filippo. 2008. E sulle ceneri dei partitini nasce la Terza repubblica. La Repubblica , 15 April.Google Scholar
Chiaramonte, Alessandro. 2008. How Prodi's Unione won by a handful of votes. In The Italian general election of 2006: Romano Prodi's victory , ed. Newell, J.M.. Manchester: Manchester University Press.Google Scholar
D'Alimonte, Roberto. 2008. Riforme per consolidare la svolta. Il Sole 24 Ore , 11 August.Google Scholar
Del Sarto, Raffaella, and Tocci, Nathalie. 2008. Italy's politics without policy: Balancing Atlanticism and Europeanism in the Middle East. Modern Italy 13, no. 2: 135–53.Google Scholar
Di Virgilio, Aldo. 1994. Dai partiti ai poli: la politica delle alleanze. Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 24, no. 3: 493–547.Google Scholar
Di Virgilio, Aldo. 2006. Dal cambiamento dei partiti allevoluzione del sistema partitico. In Partiti e caso italiano , ed. Morlino, L. and Tarchi, M.. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Diamanti, Ilvo. 2007. The Italian centre-right and centre-left: Between parties and the party. West European Politics 30, no. 4: 733–62.Google Scholar
Donovan, Mark. 2008. The centre between structure and agency: The Italian case. Modern Italy 13, no. 4: 415–28.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Galli, Giorgio. 1967 [1966]. Il bipartitismo imperfetto: comunisti e democristiani in Italia . Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Giannini, Massimo. 2005. La Terza repubblica. La Repubblica , 12 October.Google Scholar
Giannini, Massimo. 2008. Terza Repubblica, Stesso Cavaliere. La Repubblica , 15 April.Google Scholar
Ginsborg, Paul. 2005. Silvio Berlusconi: Television, power and patrimony . New ed. London: Verso.Google Scholar
Guerra, Simona, and Massetti, Emanuele. 2008. The 2008 general election in Italy. EPERN Election Briefing No. 41, University of Sussex.Google Scholar
Hibberd, Matthew. 2007. Conflicts of interest and media pluralism in Italian broadcasting. West European Politics 30, no. 4: 881–902.Google Scholar
Hine, David. 1993. Governing Italy: The politics of bargained pluralism . Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Ieraci, Giuseppe. 2007. From polarized pluralism to polarized bipolarism: Parties, governments and policy space in Italy after the 2006 elections. Polena 3, no. 1: 9–24.Google Scholar
Ignazi, Piero. 1998a. Il polo escluso. Profilo storico del Movimento Sociale Italiano . Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Ignazi, Piero. 1998b. Gianfranco Fini é in fuga ma il suo plotone arranca. Il Mulino 47, no. 376: 233–40.Google Scholar
Katz, Richard. 1996. Electoral reform and the transformation of party politics in Italy. Party Politics 2, no. 1: 31–53.Google Scholar
Mair, Peter. 1997. Party system change: Approaches and interpretations . Oxford: Oxford University Press..Google Scholar
Mair, Peter. 2006. Party system change. In Handbook of party politics , ed. Katz, R.S. and Crotty, W., London: Sage Publications.Google Scholar
Maltese, Curzio. 2003. La Terza Repubblica. La Repubblica , 8 May.Google Scholar
Maranini, Giuseppe. 1958. Miti e realtà della democrazia . Turin: Comintà.Google Scholar
Massetti, Emanuele. 2006. Electoral reform in Italy: From PR to mixed system and (almost) back again. Representation 42, no. 3: 261–9.Google Scholar
Menicucci, Ernesto. 2008. Il male assoluto? Le leggi razziali, non il fascismo (Interview with the AN's mayor of Rome, Gianni Alemanno). Corriere della Sera , 7 September.Google Scholar
Mieli, Paolo. 2008. La vera partenza. Corriere della Sera , 20 April.Google Scholar
Morlino, Leonardo. 1996. Crisis of parties and change of party system in Italy. Party Politics 2, no. 1: 5–30.Google Scholar
Morlino, Leonardo. 1998. Democracy between consolidation and crisis: Parties, groups and citizens in Southern Europe . Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Newell, James, and Bull, Martin. 1997. Party organizations and alliances in Italy in the 1990s: A revolution of sorts. West European Politics 20, no. 1: 81–109.Google Scholar
Pappalardo, Adriano. 1980. La politica consociativa nella democrazia italiana. Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 10: 73–123.Google Scholar
Pappalardo, Adriano. 1996. Dal pluralismo plolarizzato al pluralismo moderato. Il modello di Sartori e la transizione italiana. Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 26, no. 1: 103–45.Google Scholar
Pasquino, Gianfranco. 2001. Un elezione non come le altre. Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica 31, no. 3: 387–98.Google Scholar
Pasquino, Gianfranco. 2007. The five faces of Silvio Berlusconi: The knight of anti-politics. Modern Italy 12, no. 1: 39–54.Google Scholar
Quaglia, Lucia, and Radaelli, Claudio. 2007. Italian politics and the European Union: A tale of two research designs. West European Politics 30, no. 4: 924–43.Google Scholar
Ruzza, Carlo. 2006. The Lega Nord: Towards electoral stability and modest success. In Autonomist parties in Europe: Identity politics and the revival of the territorial cleavage , ed. De Winter, L., Gomez-Reino, M. and Lynch, P., Barcelona: ICPS.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 1976. Parties and party systems: A framework for analysis . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Walston, James. 2007. Italian foreign policy in the Second Republic: Changes of form and substance. Modern Italy 12, no. 1: 91–104.CrossRefGoogle Scholar