https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4499-2534
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ABSTRACT
The Italian Democratic Party (PD) has attracted scholarly attention for its low level of institutionalization and its lack of a clear political identity since its inception in 2007. Additionally, its electoral support has been in a state of continuous decline since the 2008 general election, and it hit a new low in the September 2022 elections. This article draws on Juan Linz and Alfred Stepan’s analysis for explaining the breakdown of democratic regimes between the two world wars and applies it to the PD’s situation. The framework identifies three macro-factors that have significantly influenced the party’s nature and dynamics: (1) general problems faced by mainstream and socialist parties in Europe since the 1990s and 2000s and the unstable and fragmented Italian party system; (2) the PD’s origins and its organizational nature; (3) party leaders’ defensive choices aimed at maintaining their roles. The article concludes that the PD’s limitations and shortcomings can be attributed to a combination of these factors.
RIASSUNTO
Sin dalla sua nascita, nel 2007, il Partito democratico ha attirato l’attenzione degli studiosi soprattutto per la sua debole istituzionalizzazione organizzativa e l’assenza di una chiara identità politica. Inoltre, esso ha conosciuto un costante declino elettorale a partire dalle elezioni politiche del 2008, raggiungendo alle elezioni del settembre del 2022 il suo minimo storico in termini di numero di elettori. L’articolo analizza questa problematica evoluzione del PD ispirandosi allo schema interpretativo che Juan Linz e Alfred Stepan avevano adottato per interpretare il crollo delle democrazie tra le due guerre mondiali. Lo schema qui utilizzato identifica tre macro-fattori che hanno influenzato in modo significativo le dinamica e la natura del partito: (1) i problemi più generali incontrati dai partiti mainstream e da quelli socialisti in particolare in Europa sin dagli anni Novanta e Duemila, da un lato, e l’instabile e frammentato sistema partitico italiano, dall’altro; (2) Le origini del Pd e le caratteristiche organizzative assunte; (3) il comportamento dei leader e dirigenti del partito, di tipo difensivo e mirante soprattutto al mantenimento dei rispettivi ruoli. L’articolo conclude che i limiti e le deficienze del PD possono essere attribuiti a una combinazione di quei tre macro-fattori.
Disclosure statement
No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).
Notes
1. According to this thesis, ‘at least until the late 1980s the process of European integration was accompanied by a so-called ‘permissive consensus’ on the part of the European citizenry. The technical nature of the European project and its marginal impact on the individual lives of citizens created a scenario in which an ill-informed, disinterested, and generally favourably disposed public gave political elites free reign in pursuing integration’ (Edwards Citation2005).
3. In October 2005, Romano Prodi, who had already served as Prime Minister from 1996 to 1998, emerged as the winner of the open primary elections held to choose the centre-left coalition’s prime ministerial candidate. These primary elections represented a concession made by the DS and Margherita party establishments to Prodi and his close collaborator, Arturo Parisi, both convinced of the need to create a single centre-left party. This was the counterpart of their decision to present themselves separately in the Senate for the 2006 legislative elections (Damilano Citation2013).
4. Corriere della Sera, 5 March 2021.
5. La Stampa, 6 March 2021; Corriere della Sera, 21 March 2021.
6. Il Fatto Quotidiano, 29 March 2021.
7. M. Valbruzzi, Il paradosso del Pd e la rivoluzione digitale, Politica/il Domani, 8 April 2023
8. Taruffi: “Appena iscritto, vengo da Sel. Ora tocca a me riorganizzare il partito”, Repubblica, 8 April 2023, p. 10; L. De Cicco, Sinistra, face nuove e poche correnti, l’impronta di Schlein sulla segreteria Pd, Repubblica, 8 April, p. 10.
9. F. Martini, Elly Schlein, una donna quasi sola al comando, Huffington Post Italia, 7 April 2023; S. Canettieri, L’Avvelenata di Elly, Il Foglio, 8 April 2023.
10. A. Floridia, La vera partita del Pd comincia adesso, alla prova i nuovi assetti, Il Manifesto, 8 April 2023.
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Notes on contributors
Sofia Ventura
Sofia Ventura is Associate Professor of Political Science at the University of Bologna and Adjunct Professor at the School of Government – LUISS in Rome. She sits on the editorial board of the Italian scientific journal, Rivista di Politica. Her specializations include Italian and French politics, political communication, and leadership. Key publications are: The Italian Government’s Pandemic Communication from Giuseppe Conte to Mario Draghi’, in Manufacturing Government Communication on Covid-19 (Springer, 2022); I Leader e le loro Storie (Il Mulino, 2019); The Italian Democratic Party from Merger to Personalism, in South European Politics, 1/2018; La double défaite des Républicains: entre crise du parti et crise du système, in La France d’Emmanuel Macron (PUR, 2018) and Emmanuel Macron: un leader antipolitique, outsider et gaullien ? in 2017. La présidentielle chamboule-tout (L’Harmattan, 2018). She has authored reports on Italian politics for two prominent political foundations in France and Germany: Fondapol - Fondation pour l’innovation politique and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung.