From the 'Republic of Parties' to a 'Fatherland for Italians': the Italian Political System in Search of a New Principle of Legitimation

Abstract

In the 1990s the idea that a 'democracy of citizens' should take the place of the 'old democracy of the parties' began to take root in Italy. After the collapse of the old party system, the politico-cultural programme of a 'fatherland for Italians' sought to provide a new principle of democratic legitimacy. Through an analysis of the meaning of the party system and a reconstruction of the 'civic-national pedagogy' undertaken in particular by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi as President of the Republic, this article shows that the notion of a 'democracy of citizens' is still struggling to define the characteristics of a mature democracy. The political fragility of the project for a 'fatherland of the Italians' is revealed, and the civic-national pedagogy of President Ciampi is found inadequate to give life to a 'constitutional patriotism' as a new principle of legitimation, partly because of the unresolved problem of the structure of the new system of parties.