No longer a 'party state'? Institutions, power and the problems of Italian reform

West European Politics

Volumn 20, Issue 1, 1997, Pages 34-53

  Pasquino, Gianfranco ^a,b  

^a UNIVERSITY OF BOLOGNA   (Italy)

^b JOHNS HOPKINS UNIVERSITY   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 0039019569     PISSN: 01402382     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1080/01402389708425174     Document Type: Article

References (26)

1. A stark defence of the old regime and its parties can be found in Mauro Cause, Dopo la partitocrazia (Turin: Einaudi 1994).
2. Briefly, there are those who believe that the starting date was the collapse of the Berlin Wall in Nov. 1989, the first electoral referendum in June 1991, the great leap forward of the Northern League in the general elections of April 1992 or Berlusconi's victory in the general elections of March 1994.
3. The causes are alternatively identified as: the transformation of the PCI into the PDS; the consequent loss of identity of a Christian Democratic Party no longer considered necessary by the voters as an anti-Communist bulwark; the emergence of the Northern League as an anti-party movement; or 'Mani Pulite' (Clean Hands) investigation and the subsequent exposure of systemic corruption. On several of these points see Mark Gilbert, The Italian Revolution. The End of Politics Italian Style? (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1995) and Patrick McCarthy, The Crisis of the Italian State. From the Origins of the Cold War to the Fall of Berlusconi (NY: St Martin's Press 1995).
4. The causes are alternatively identified as: the transformation of the PCI into the PDS; the consequent loss of identity of a Christian Democratic Party no longer considered necessary by the voters as an anti-Communist bulwark; the emergence of the Northern League as an anti-party movement; or 'Mani Pulite' (Clean Hands) investigation and the subsequent exposure of systemic corruption. On several of these points see Mark Gilbert, The Italian Revolution. The End of Politics Italian Style? (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1995) and Patrick McCarthy, The Crisis of the Italian State. From the Origins of the Cold War to the Fall of Berlusconi (NY: St Martin's Press 1995).
5. The details can be found in my 'The electoral reform referendums' in Robert Leonardi and Fausto Anderlini (eds.) Italian Politics. A Review Volume 6 (London: Frances Pinter 1992) pp.9-24.
6. On this point, see Patrick McCarthy 'The Referendum of 9 June' in Stephen Hellman and Gianfranco Pasquino (eds.) Italian Politics. A Review Volume 7 (ibid. 1992) pp. 11-28.
7. The legislative outcome is too complex to be discussed and assessed in a few sentences. The best short description of the details can be found in Richard S. Katz, 'The 1993 Parliamentary Electoral Reform' in Carol Mershon and Gianfranco Pasquino (eds.) Italian Politics. Ending The First Republic (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1995)pp.93-112.
8. Richard S. Katz and Peter Mair, 'Changing Models of Party Organisation and Party Democracy: The Emergence of the Cartel Party', Party Politics 1/1 (Jan. 1995) pp.5-21.
9. Data and analyses supporting my point can be found in some of the contributions to the book edited by Richard Gunther, Nikiforos Diamandouros and Hans-Jurgen Puhle, The Politics of Democratic Consolidation. Southern Europe in Comparative Perspective (Baltimore and London: Johns Hopkins UP 1995).
10. It is important to remark that Ciampi resigned on 13 Jan. 1994 and remained in office, therefore, only to look after current affairs and to supervise the electoral process until Berlusconi was appointed Prime Minister on 28 April 1994.
11. The governmental experience of Augusto Barbera (Relations with Parliament), Luigi Berlinguer (University), and Vincenzo Visco (Finance) lasted a few hours only. They were obliged to resign in the wake of a Chamber vote rejecting the request by the judges of Milan to put the Socialist leader, Bettino Craxi, on trial.
12. On Ciampi's experience, see the inside story accurately and sympathetically told by Carlo Chimenti, Il governo dei professori (Florence: Passigli Editore 1994).
13. Perhaps taking all too seriously the new electoral laws as designing a sort of Westminster model for Italy, the PDS secretary Achille Occhetto did not explicitly disavow the possibility that in the case of electoral victory, the leader of the largest party of the Progressive coalition might become the Prime Minister. This declaration scared many voters and, in any case, made it impossible for the Progressives officially to declare their support for Ciampi who, for some of them, seemed to offer too little in the way of novelty. On these various points, see Martin Rhodes, 'Reinventing the Left: The Origins of Italy's Progressive Alliance' in Carol Mershon and Gianfranco Pasquino (eds.) Italian Politic: Ending the First Republic (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1995) pp. 113-34
14. and Martin J. Bull, 'The Failure of the Progressive Alliance 'in Richard S. Katz and Piero Ignazi (eds.) Italian Politics: The Year of the Tycoon (ibid. 1996) pp.79-96.
15. See Patrick McCarthy, 'Forza Italia: the Overwhelming Success and the Consequent Problems of a Virtual Party' in Richard S. Katz and Piero Ignazi (eds.) Italian Politics. The Year of the Tycoon (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1996) pp.31-55 and Marco Maraffi 'Forza Italia' in Gianfranco Pasquino (ed.) La politica italiana. Dizionario critico 1945-1995 (Roma-Bari: Laterza 1995) pp.247-59.
16. See Patrick McCarthy, 'Forza Italia: the Overwhelming Success and the Consequent Problems of a Virtual Party' in Richard S. Katz and Piero Ignazi (eds.) Italian Politics. The Year of the Tycoon (Boulder, CO: Westview Press 1996) pp.31-55 and Marco Maraffi 'Forza Italia' in Gianfranco Pasquino (ed.) La politica italiana. Dizionario critico 1945-1995 (Roma-Bari: Laterza 1995) pp.247-59.
17. See Stefano Ceccanti and Sergio Fabbrini, 'Transizione verso Westminster? Ambiguità e discontinuità nella formazione del Governo Berlusconi' in Gianfranco Pasquino (ed.) L'alternanza inattesa. Le elezioni del 27 marzo 1994 e le loro conseguenze (Soveria Mannelli: Rubbettino 1995) pp.256-84.
18. I have done this in my Mandato popolare e governo (Bologna: Il Mulino 1995).
19. Having no pre-defined parliamentary majority, Dini's government was obliged to request several votes of confidence, or more precisely seven: five in the Chamber of Deputies, two in the Senate, both in order to cut short lengthy debates and to consolidate the support of the centre-left. Eventually, as in the Chamber of Deputies in Dec. 1995, the request for a confidence vote served the purpose of calling the bluff of the centre-right and showing that Berlusconi's alignment was neither cohesive nor disciplined.
20. I am quoting the requirements of party government as formulated by Richard S. Katz, 'Party Government. A Rationalistic Conception' in Francis G. Castles and Rudolf Wildenmann (eds.) Visions and Realities of Party Government (Berlin-New York: de Gruyter 1986) pp.30-71 and 'Party Government and Its Alternatives' in Richard S. Katz (ed.) Party Governments: European and American Experiences (ibid. 1981), esp. p. 7.
21. I am quoting the requirements of party government as formulated by Richard S. Katz, 'Party Government. A Rationalistic Conception' in Francis G. Castles and Rudolf Wildenmann (eds.) Visions and Realities of Party Government (Berlin-New York: de Gruyter 1986) pp.30-71 and 'Party Government and Its Alternatives' in Richard S. Katz (ed.) Party Governments: European and American Experiences (ibid. 1981), esp. p. 7.
22. For the best of these statements see Bruno Dente and Gloria Regonini 'Politics and Policies in Italy' in Peter Lange and Marino Regini (eds.) State, Market, and Social Regulation. New Perspectives on Italy (NY: Cambridge UP 1989) pp.51-79.
23. I have argued this point at length in my 'Party Government in Italy: Achievements and Prospects' in Richard S. Katz (ed.) Party Governments: European and American Experiences (Berlin-New York: de Gruyter 1987), pp.202-42.
24. The necessary evidence is presented, hopefully in a convincing manner, in my 'Party Government in Italy' (note 19).
25. A thorough discussion of these aspects is provided by Sergio Fabbrini, Quale democrazia. L'Italia e gli altri (Roma-Bari: Laterza 1994) pp.105-64.
26. Karlheinz Reif, 'Party Government in the Fifth French Republic' in Katz (note 17) pp.27-37.