Fishing from the same schools: Parliamentary recruitment and consociationalism in the first and second Italian Republics

West European Politics

Volumn 19, Issue 2, 1996, Pages 340-359

  Recchi, Ettore ^a  

^a NONE

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EID: 0000665550     PISSN: 01402382     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01402389608425137     Document Type: Article

References (52)

1. Cf. A. Pizzorno, 'Le difficoltà del consociativismo' in Le radici della politica assoluta e altri saggi (Milano: Feltrinelli 1993); M. Calise, 'Remaking the Italian Party System: How Lijphart Got It Wrong By Saying It Right', WEP 16/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.545-60; G. Amato, 'Italy: The Rise and Decline of a System of Government', Indiana Int. & Comparative Law Review 4/2 (Winter 1994) p.227. A step toward considering the First Italian Republic as a case of consociationalism (under his revised label of consensus democracy) was already made by A. Lijphart in Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries (New Haven, CT: Yale UP 1984) pp.211 ff.
2. Cf. A. Pizzorno, 'Le difficoltà del consociativismo' in Le radici della politica assoluta e altri saggi (Milano: Feltrinelli 1993); M. Calise, 'Remaking the Italian Party System: How Lijphart Got It Wrong By Saying It Right', WEP 16/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.545-60; G. Amato, 'Italy: The Rise and Decline of a System of Government', Indiana Int. & Comparative Law Review 4/2 (Winter 1994) p.227. A step toward considering the First Italian Republic as a case of consociationalism (under his revised label of consensus democracy) was already made by A. Lijphart in Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries (New Haven, CT: Yale UP 1984) pp.211 ff.
3. Cf. A. Pizzorno, 'Le difficoltà del consociativismo' in Le radici della politica assoluta e altri saggi (Milano: Feltrinelli 1993); M. Calise, 'Remaking the Italian Party System: How Lijphart Got It Wrong By Saying It Right', WEP 16/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.545-60; G. Amato, 'Italy: The Rise and Decline of a System of Government', Indiana Int. & Comparative Law Review 4/2 (Winter 1994) p.227. A step toward considering the First Italian Republic as a case of consociationalism (under his revised label of consensus democracy) was already made by A. Lijphart in Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries (New Haven, CT: Yale UP 1984) pp.211 ff.
4. Cf. A. Pizzorno, 'Le difficoltà del consociativismo' in Le radici della politica assoluta e altri saggi (Milano: Feltrinelli 1993); M. Calise, 'Remaking the Italian Party System: How Lijphart Got It Wrong By Saying It Right', WEP 16/4 (Oct. 1993) pp.545-60; G. Amato, 'Italy: The Rise and Decline of a System of Government', Indiana Int. & Comparative Law Review 4/2 (Winter 1994) p.227. A step toward considering the First Italian Republic as a case of consociationalism (under his revised label of consensus democracy) was already made by A. Lijphart in Democracies: Patterns of Majoritarian and Consensus Government in Twenty-One Countries (New Haven, CT: Yale UP 1984) pp.211 ff.
5. A. Lijphart, Democracy in Plural Societies (ibid. 1977) p.1.
6. Among others, cf. M. Cotta, 'Elite Unification and Democratic Consolidation in Italy: a Historical Overview' in M. Burton, R. Gunther and J. Higley (eds) Elites and Democratic Consolidation in Latin America and Western Europe (Cambridge: CUP 1992).
7. G. Lembruch hints at this problem, but dismisses it too rapidly saying that 'cooperative strategies of conflict regulation may then be adopted in a process of "learning by success" and become internalized as norms which will be transmitted in the institutionalized socialization process of the political élites': 'Consociational Democracy in the International System', European Jnl of Political Research 3/4 (Dec. 1975) p.379-80.
8. The processes considered in the hypothesis are frequently reported as characterising the Italian political class before 1994: particularly, cf. L. Cavalli, Governo del leader e regime dei partiti (Bologna: Il Mulino 1992) pp.220-9; A. Mastropaolo, Il ceto politico (Roma: La Nuova Italia 1993) pp.44-52.
9. The processes considered in the hypothesis are frequently reported as characterising the Italian political class before 1994: particularly, cf. L. Cavalli, Governo del leader e regime dei partiti (Bologna: Il Mulino 1992) pp.220-9; A. Mastropaolo, Il ceto politico (Roma: La Nuova Italia 1993) pp.44-52.
10. D. Herzog, Politische Karrieren (Opladen: Westdeutscher 1975) pp.46-52.
11. S. Renshon, 'Psychological Perspectives on Theories of Adult Development and the Political Socialization of Leaders', in R.S. Sigel (ed.) Political Learning in Adulthood (Chicago: UCP 1989) p.229.
12. P. Abrams and A. Little, 'The Young Activist in British Politics', British Jnl of Sociology 16/4 (Winter 1965) p.331.
13. For a general panorama of other sociological characteristics of these MPs, see L. Verzichelli, 'Gli eletti', Rivista italiana di scienza politica 24/3 (Dec. 1994) pp.715-39 and A. Mastropaolo, 'Le elezioni politiche del marzo 1994. Vecchio e nuovo nel Parlamento italiano', Storia contemporanea 196 (Sept. 1994) pp.461-70.
14. For a general panorama of other sociological characteristics of these MPs, see L. Verzichelli, 'Gli eletti', Rivista italiana di scienza politica 24/3 (Dec. 1994) pp.715-39 and A. Mastropaolo, 'Le elezioni politiche del marzo 1994. Vecchio e nuovo nel Parlamento italiano', Storia contemporanea 196 (Sept. 1994) pp.461-70.
15. In the 'old party system [...] the distinction between government and opposition was ambiguous. [After] the formation of the new executive, the line dividing government parties and opposition parties appeared sharp': R. D'Alimonte and S. Bartolini, 'Il sistema partitico italiano: una transizione difficile', in Maggioritario ma non troppo (Bologna: Il Mulino 1995) p.450. Cf. also A. Pizzorno, 'Dopo il consociativismo', Micromega 10/2 (May 1995) pp.236-57.
16. In the 'old party system [...] the distinction between government and opposition was ambiguous. [After] the formation of the new executive, the line dividing government parties and opposition parties appeared sharp': R. D'Alimonte and S. Bartolini, 'Il sistema partitico italiano: una transizione difficile', in Maggioritario ma non troppo (Bologna: Il Mulino 1995) p.450. Cf. also A. Pizzorno, 'Dopo il consociativismo', Micromega 10/2 (May 1995) pp.236-57.
17. R. Rose, Ministers and Ministries (Oxford: Clarendon 1987) p.73.
18. 2; cf. S. Lieberson, 'Measuring Population Diversity', American Sociological Review 34/5 (Oct. 1969) pp.850-62. The party filière has been considered as one category (regardless of the difference between youth and adult offices).
19. M. Cotta, Classe politica e Parlamento in Italia 1946-1976 (Bologna: Il Mulino 1979) p.259.
20. G. Bettin and A. Magnier, Chi governa la città? (Padova: CEDAM 1991).
21. Cotta (note 13); M. Guadagnini, 'Partiti e classe parlamentare negli anni Settanta', Rivista italiana di scienza politica 13/2 (Aug. 1983) pp.261-94.
22. Cotta (note 13); M. Guadagnini, 'Partiti e classe parlamentare negli anni Settanta', Rivista italiana di scienza politica 13/2 (Aug. 1983) pp.261-94.
23. The usually authoritative financial paper Il Sole-24 Ore reported that 38 per cent of the MPs had 'no political experience' - reaching an astonishing 95 per cent in Forza Italia ('Il Parlamento delle "matricole"', Il Sole-24 Ore, 11 April 1994, pp.1-2). Our figures reduce the phenomenon to sensibly smaller proportions.
24. Cf. A. Mastropaolo (note 5).
25. Guadagnini (note 15) p.287.
26. Interestingly, in 1994 the MPs who cut their political teeth within a trade union (esp. CGIL) have become a most prominent group also in Rifondazione Comunista.
27. Cotta (note 13) pp.176ff.; G. Di Palma and M. Cotta, 'Cadres, Peones, and Entrepreneurs: Professional Identities in a Divided Parliament', in E.N. Suleiman (ed.) Parliaments and Parliamentarians in Democratic Politics (NY: Holmes & Meier 1986) p.57.
28. Cotta (note 13) pp.176ff.; G. Di Palma and M. Cotta, 'Cadres, Peones, and Entrepreneurs: Professional Identities in a Divided Parliament', in E.N. Suleiman (ed.) Parliaments and Parliamentarians in Democratic Politics (NY: Holmes & Meier 1986) p.57.
29. That is, one of the offices considered in the classification of the variable 'first political office' (see note to Table 1).
30. Cotta (note 13), p.179.
31. Di Palma and Cotta (note 20) p.57.
32. Cotta (note 13) p.242. Also, J. Schlesinger's data on US political careers (1900-58) lead him to say that 'the earliest starters, those entering public office before the age of 25, are not the speediest runners in politics': Ambition and Politics: Political Careers in the United States (Chicago: Rand McNally 1966) p.182.
33. Cotta (note 13) p.242. Also, J. Schlesinger's data on US political careers (1900-58) lead him to say that 'the earliest starters, those entering public office before the age of 25, are not the speediest runners in politics': Ambition and Politics: Political Careers in the United States (Chicago: Rand McNally 1966) p.182.
34. It must be noted that the age of parliamentarians has risen constantly in the history of the Italian post-war legislatures until 1994: cf. Cotta (note 13) pp.262-6; A. Mastropaolo (note 5) p.104. Also the mean age of first election has shown a constant rise from 1976 to 1992. This evidence verifies and compounds mathematically the impression of unoxidable stability of the inner circle of the Italian political class until 1994.
35. Even among 1994 freshmen, those who have acquired a 'super-élite' status come more often (28 per cent) from a youth party than their less prestigious colleagues (18 per cent).
36. In 1992, while 71 per cent of the Christian Democratic MPs from the War Generation once engaged in youth politics belonged in the youth section of the Azione Cattolica, just 36 per cent from the Rebuild Generation, 22 per cent from the Cold War Generation, and finally 11 per cent from the Protest and Silent Generations adhered to similar Catholic organisations. Converse figures account for the growing importance of the DC Youth Movement as an institution of apprenticeship for future Christian Democratic élites.
37. Cf. P. Lange, C. Irvin, and S. Tarrow, 'Mobilization, Social Movements and Party Recruitment: The Italian Communist Party since the 1960s', British Jnl of Political Science 20/1 (April 1991) pp.15-42.
38. Cf. M. Tarchi, Esuli in Patria. I fascisti nell'Italia repubblicana (Parma: Guanda 1995).
39. The concept is used in Schlesinger's meaning (note 24) as the probability of election to a political office for different categories of citizens. (I thank Damian Tambini for having pointed out to me the potentially misleading use of the same term in other research areas).
40. Schlesinger (note 24) p.176.
41. L.J. Edinger and D.D. Searing, 'Social Background in Elite Analysis: a Methodological Enquiry', American Political Science Review 41/2 (April 1967) p.430. More generally, the correlation between social positions and subjective dispositions has found a reinforced support in Bourdieu's sociological theory in recent times.
42. Nine interviews were performed in 1994. I wish to thank David Bogi for his co-operation in the interview process.
43. S. Bullitt, To Be a Politician (New Haven, CT: Yale UP 1977) p.46.
44. The members of the Young Christian Democrats' (MGDC), Young Communists' (FGCI) and Young Socialists' (FGS) national councils (consiglio nazionale) and executive committees (comitato centrale or direzione nazionale) between 1974 and 1977 have been checked in the 1991 and 1994 editions of two Italian 'Who's Who' - that is, the Annuario Generale Italiano and the Guida delle Regioni. This straightforward procedure to check the careers of these 435 people has been supplemented by information from party activists (to avoid mistaken identities). These informants have indicated that many of the individuals that are not named in the 'Who's Who' are, however, still involved in active politics (either as local party officers, or as local representatives in smaller towns). Therefore, the following figures are likely to be indicators of political professionalism ex defecto.
45. It should not come as a surprise, hence, that Italian MPs declared that they feel more solidarity and responsibility towards each other than towards their constituents: cf. G. Di Palma, Surviving Without Governing. The Italian Parties in Parliament (Berkeley, CA: UCP 1977) p.163; R. Leonardi and G. Pasquino, 'Attività parlamentare e rappresentanza politica', in A. Martinelli and G. Pasquino (eds), La politica nell'Italia che cambia (Milan: Feltrinelli 1978) p.226; G. Pridham, 'Parliamentarians and their Constituents in Italian Party Democracy', in V. Bogdanor (ed.) Representatives of the People? Parliamentarians and their Constituents in Western Democracies (Aldershot: Gower 1985).
46. It should not come as a surprise, hence, that Italian MPs declared that they feel more solidarity and responsibility towards each other than towards their constituents: cf. G. Di Palma, Surviving Without Governing. The Italian Parties in Parliament (Berkeley, CA: UCP 1977) p.163; R. Leonardi and G. Pasquino, 'Attività parlamentare e rappresentanza politica', in A. Martinelli and G. Pasquino (eds), La politica nell'Italia che cambia (Milan: Feltrinelli 1978) p.226; G. Pridham, 'Parliamentarians and their Constituents in Italian Party Democracy', in V. Bogdanor (ed.) Representatives of the People? Parliamentarians and their Constituents in Western Democracies (Aldershot: Gower 1985).
47. It should not come as a surprise, hence, that Italian MPs declared that they feel more solidarity and responsibility towards each other than towards their constituents: cf. G. Di Palma, Surviving Without Governing. The Italian Parties in Parliament (Berkeley, CA: UCP 1977) p.163; R. Leonardi and G. Pasquino, 'Attività parlamentare e rappresentanza politica', in A. Martinelli and G. Pasquino (eds), La politica nell'Italia che cambia (Milan: Feltrinelli 1978) p.226; G. Pridham, 'Parliamentarians and their Constituents in Italian Party Democracy', in V. Bogdanor (ed.) Representatives of the People? Parliamentarians and their Constituents in Western Democracies (Aldershot: Gower 1985).
48. On the conditions and the outcomes of social exchanges based on the norm of reciprocity, cf. E. Recchi, 'Reciprocità. Un nome per tre concetti', Stato e mercato 39 (Dec. 1993) pp.467-500.
49. B. Harasymiw, Political Elite Recruitment in the Soviet Union (London: Macmillan 1984).
50. M. Cotta and L. Verzichelli, 'The Breakdown of an Established Elite and the Rise of the New Politicians', paper presented at the IPSA World Congress, Berlin, Aug. 1994, p.1.
51. Cf. V. Pareto, Les systèmes socialistes (Droz: Paris 1965 [1902]) pp.9-10.
52. For the definition of 'political professionalism' adopted, see note to Table 3.