Kirchheimer Italian Style

Abstract

In this article, I use the Italian case to demonstrate that Kirchheimer’s catch-all thesis can be applied in various ways. Unlike parties in many European nations, Italian parties did not undergo a catch-all transformation in the post-war period. However, after the parties and party system were dramatically reformed in the 1990s, some catch-all characteristics — with clarifications — in Italy are in evidence. Specifically, an important distinction needs to be made between what Kirchheimer called a ‘catch-all party’ and what we may refer to as a ‘catch-all bloc’. The catch-all party is a single party that aims to capture as much of the vote as it can, oftentimes by converging its policy preferences on the centre political space. The catch-all bloc is a group of individual parties, catch-all or not, that agrees in advance to collaborate, and behaves, collectively, as a catch-all party. This important distinction helps us understand changes in the Italian party system over time and shows that Kirchheimer’s ideas — though modified — still have relevance in modern-day Italian politics.