Centre-left Coalition Research Articles

Class differences in precarity and welfare priorities within Europe’s center-left coalitions

Mainstream European left-wing parties have seen their traditional class base evolve in postindustrial economies. In response, these parties have adjusted their platforms to adopt policies that aim to secure positions for workers in a more volatile labor market through education and training. But how does the electoral appeal of this “social investment” paradigm compare to that of the older welfare paradigm that passively distributes benefits to the poor and inactive? Using cross-country data from two surveys, I find that the policy preferences of industrial workers respond differently to labor market precarity than do those of service sector workers, particularly sociocultural professionals. Further, industrial workers who prefer traditional welfare policies are less likely to vote for the center-left than professionals, even if those professionals hold similar policy priorities. These results help explain the center-left’s recent electoral trends while also highlighting current limitations on building cross-class political coalitions in postindustrial economies.

Italian Catholics and the June 1967 War: A Turning Point

ABSTRACT: This article examines the debate in the Italian Catholic world which erupted during the Arab-Israeli war of June 1967. At the time, Italy was governed by the Christian Democrats, a Catholic-based party in a center-left coalition and the Italian electorate leaned heavily towards Israel, as newspapers, magazines and many politicians feared a possible resurgent genocide against the Jews. Only a few important but minority public figures took radically different positions: Foreign Minister Amintore Fanfani and, more moderately, Prime Minister Aldo Moro together with their allies in the party. After the end of the war, many Italian Catholics changed their minds: Israel no longer risked "a new holocaust," and the tragedy of the Palestinian people became obvious.

Italian Catholics and the June 1967 War: A Turning Point

ABSTRACT: This article examines the debate in the Italian Catholic world which erupted during the Arab-Israeli war of June 1967. At the time, Italy was governed by the Christian Democrats, a Catholic-based party in a center-left coalition and the Italian electorate leaned heavily towards Israel, as newspapers, magazines and many politicians feared a possible resurgent genocide against the Jews. Only a few important but minority public figures took radically different positions: Foreign Minister Amintore Fanfani and, more moderately, Prime Minister Aldo Moro together with their allies in the party. After the end of the war, many Italian Catholics changed their minds: Israel no longer risked "a new holocaust," and the tragedy of the Palestinian people became obvious.

Chile’s Inclusion Law: the arduous drive to regulate an unequal education system, 2006–19

ABSTRACT Chile’s Inclusion Law, passed in 2015, significantly increased government regulation of one of the most privatised education systems in the world and provided major redistributive benefits. How did Chile’s government succeed in passing and implementing this legislation in the face of a powerful and cohesive opposition? Our study finds that student protesters served as the initial impetus, shaping the education debate and increasing the political salience and urgency of education reform. In line with power resource theory, other left movement organisations and voters used their power to support redistributive education reform, and Bachelet’s centre-left coalition followed through on its mandate by proposing the Inclusion Law. Also, a well-connected policy network helped articulate problems with the status quo and shaped the specifics of the education bill. To develop this argument, the paper draws on historical information on the student movement in Chile, quantitative data on education stakeholder appearances in the press, public opinion surveys, and detailed analysis of the 13-month legislative proceedings – to explain the law’s passage in congress. To underscore the significance of the Inclusion Law and to contextualise the Chilean case, the paper also compares Chile to other countries with nation-wide school choice systems.

From Second-Best to First-Best Veto Point: Explaining the Changing Uses of Judicial Review and Referendums in Uruguay

ABSTRACTThe use of veto points to block policy change has received significant attention in Latin America, but the different institutional venues have not been analyzed in a unified framework. Uruguay is exceptional in that political actors use both referendums and judicial review as effective ways to oppose public policies. While the activation of direct democracy mechanisms in Uruguay has been widely studied, the surge in the use of the judicial venue remains underexplored. This article argues that veto point use responds to the ideological content of policies adopted by different coalitions and the type of interest organization affected. It shows that policy opponents predominantly activate referendums when center-right coalitions rule and judicial review when center-left coalitions govern. It illustrates the causal argument by tracing the politics of court and referendum activation. This approach helps to bridge the gap between research on direct democracy and judicial politics, providing a unified framework.

ІТАЛІЙСЬКИЙ ВЕКТОР ПОЛІТИКИ США У ПЕРІОД ПРЕЗИДЕНТСТВА ДЖОНА КЕННЕДІ

The article is devoted to the changes in the US foreign policy towards Italy during the presidency of John Kennedy (1961-1963). The study examines two main aspects of American-Italian relations of the specified period: the formation of Italian governments based on a center-left coalition, as well as relations in the energy sphere. Particular attention is paid to the personification of foreign policy and the use of American-Italian communication channels outside the US Embassy in Rome. The purpose of the article is a comprehensive study of the Italian policy of the United States during the presidency of John Kennedy. From a methodological point of view, the research is based on historical-genetic, descriptive methods, critical analysis of sources, as well as methods of researching the history of international relations. This made it possible to highlight the Italian vector of the US foreign policy and place it in the general context of the international policy of the Cold War era. The scientific novelty of the study consists of the systematization of the US foreign policy towards Italy in the European context with the involvement of sources and literature that were not previously used in domestic historiography. Conclusions. US foreign policy towards Italy during the presidency of J. Kennedy focused on the problem of ensuring the political stability of Italian governments, as well as the country’s Euro-Atlantic course. The defining characteristic of this policy was the emphasis on supporting the democratic foundations of Italy’s domestic policy, ensuring the electoral support of the Italian population, as well as support from the Catholic Church. The new vision proposed by the US president made it possible to carry out a timely renewal of Italian politics, as well as to propose a new political model for other Western European countries. The culmination of J. Kennedy’s Italian policy was a visit to Rome and the Vatican as part of a European tour in 1963, which provided public support for his policy and contributed to improving the image of the USA in Europe. Thus, J. Kennedy’s Italian policy was in the context of his pan-European policy and correlated with the problem of European unity within the EEC and NATO.

COVID-19 AND POLITICAL PROCESS IN ITALY IN 2021

The paper examines the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the political process in Italy in 2021. The author analyzes the change of government in February 2021 and the country’s economic recovery and resilience plan, as well as changes in the party-political landscape that occurred in the second year of the pandemic. The study showed that there is an increase in the factors of personalization of power and the strengthening of the executive branch and stagnation of the party landscape in the absence of a clear leader among political forces. The center-right and center-left coalitions are comparable in terms of citizens’ support, but at the same time the level of frustration is growing, reflecting the dissatisfaction of citizens with any of the parties. We can say that there is a certain feeling of the lack of alternative to the proposed development model and the absence of the very request for an alternative. Against this background, the ideas of sovranism so popular recently, it seems, no longer have any prospects.

Taxing the Tails in a Global Economy: How Electoral, Party and Wage Bargaining Systems Interact to Determine the Taxes Paid by the Poor and Rich

AbstractA prominent line of research on electoral systems and income redistribution argues that proportional representation (PR) leads to tax-and-transfer policies that benefit the poor at the expense of the rich. This is because PR produces encompassing center-left coalitions that protect the poor and middle classes. Yet countries with PR electoral systems tend to rely heavily on consumption taxes and tax profits lightly, both of which are inconsistent with this expectation. Both policies are regressive and seem to benefit the rich at the expense of the poor. This article argues that PR electoral institutions, when combined with trichotomous multipartism, are not as hostile to the rich as commonly believed, and that it is important to understand how electoral and party systems interact with labor market institutions in order to explain the puzzling pattern of taxation that is observed. The author develops a theoretical model and evaluates its empirical implications for a world in which production has become multinational.

Going left or right? A study of the policy rationale of the Chilean center-left coalition Concertación in Education

What does it mean to deliver left-wing policies in education nowadays? During most of the 20th century, political parties of the center-left traditionally fought for a welfare state and a comprehensive public education. However, in an era of advanced capitalism, these same parties have tended to advocate and even deepen neoliberal and new public management reforms. In Chile, the center-left “Concertación” coalition governed for 20 years (1990-2010), inheriting a market-driven educational system established under the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. This paper, based on an analysis of official public speeches and documents (in total 62), examines the Concertación’s rationale and political project in school education. The coalition’s aim was to move from a “free market” to a regulated market, through a balanced formula that—while preserving the market framework—added greater state investment, compensatory programs, and performance accountability measures. Hypotheses circulated in the country that the Concertación did not deliver further transformations due to legal constraints, international pressure, and “conflict phobia”. Despite historical limitations and internal disputes, the research provides evidence that the government’s educational program, in large part, was true to its own system of thinking. Hence, the center-left coalition did not maintain the market-based model in spite of its governmental rationality, but because of it.

El Partito Democratico: del partido de los reformistas al partido fallido. Un primer balance (2007-2019)

The story of the Partito Democratico provides an important glimpse of the transformations that have affected the Italian political and party system over the past decade. Born by merger of the two main parties of the center-left coalition, DS and Margherita, which for twenty years have been protagonists together with Berlusconi’s center-right in the bipolar evolution of Italian politics, a dozen years after its birth act, the PD is a party whose political project has yet to be considered undetermined and uncomplete. In this article a first balance of this experience is outlined, through the reconstruction of the different political phases lived by the PD, from his birth act (2007) to 2019, trying to indicate the main causes that have so far influenced its alternating events, from the debut to 2018 National elections until the electoral defeat of 2018 and the limited recovery of consensus that occurred in the 2019 European and Regional elections.

Culture and political commitment in the non-orthodox Marxist Left: the case of Quaderni piacentini in pre-1968 Italy

ABSTRACT Quaderni piacentini, set up in 1962 by Piergiorgio Bellocchio and Grazia Cherchi, was probably the most iconic leftist periodical in Italy before 1968. Its criticism against both the Italian Communist Party for its non-revolutionary policy and the reformist centre-left coalition, its uncompromising ethics, and its exploring into non-orthodox Marxist approaches made it representative of the intellectual New Left in Italy, against the background of advanced industrialization. This article explores the changing perception of the role of intellectuals in society from classic forms of an elitist political involvement to the desired identification with the masses. It argues that between the two different ways to approach culture that intersected in Quaderni piacentini and characterized the debate around 1968, namely the one expressed by Franco Fortini – advocate of the function of intellectuals and of the use of literature for political purposes – and the one supported by Alberto Asor Rosa – convinced of the need for a self-destruction of traditional ʻbourgeois' disciplines – the periodical tended to side with the former, in order to keep culture a credible and legitimate tool for militancy.

The Political Cost of Being Soft on Crime: Evidence from a Natural Experiment

AbstractThis study analyzes voters’ response to criminal justice policies by exploiting a natural experiment. The 2006 Italian Collective Pardon Bill, designed and promoted by the incumbent center-left (CL) coalition, unexpectedly released about one-third of the prison population, creating idiosyncratic incentives to recidivate across pardoned individuals. Municipalities where resident pardoned individuals had a higher incentive to recidivate experienced a higher recidivism rate. We show that in those municipalities voters “punished” the CL coalition in the 2008 parliamentary elections. A one standard deviation increase in the incentive to recidivate—corresponding to an increase of recidivism of 15.9%—led to a 3.06% increase in the margin of victory of the center-right (CR) coalition in the post-pardon national elections (2008) relative to the last election before the pardon (2006). We also provide evidence of newspapers being more likely to report crime news involving pardoned individuals and of voters hardening their views on the incumbent national government’s ability to control crime. Our findings indicate that voters keep politicians accountable by conditioning their vote on the observed effects of public policies.

Political affiliation in post-parliamentary careers in Italian public enterprises

AbstractIt has long been recognized that the presence of politicians on the boards of directors of public firms may create inefficiencies. Nevertheless, research has so far neglected the effect of political affiliation on the appointment of Members of Parliament to the boards of public firms. This article intends to fill this gap by conducting an empirical analysis on a sample of 945 deputies of the Italian Parliament elected over the period 1996–2001. Regression discontinuity estimates show that the centre-left coalition is about 25 percentage points more likely to appoint its Members of Parliament to the board of public enterprises than the centre-right coalition. Political appointments become more pronounced when the centre-left forms a governing coalition.

Oslo’s “new Track”: Norwegian Nuclear Disarmament Diplomacy, 2005–2013

ABSTRACTAdopted by 122 non-nuclear-weapon states in July 2017, the Treaty on the Prohibition of Nuclear Weapons (TPNW) was promoted by a transnational network of government agencies, international organizations, and civil society actors. Now, as the agreement creeps towards entry into force, a debate about the history of the TPNW has begun. While supporters of the TPNW argue that the adoption of the treaty was a reasoned response to diplomatic impasse and the pileup of empirical evidence on the humanitarian consequences of nuclear detonations, revisionists have argued that the humanitarian initiative was never about banning nuclear weapons, but was hijacked by radicals eager to shame the Western nuclear powers or discredit the NPT. Reading the TPNW as a manifestation of “frustration” with lacking progress on disarmament in other forums, observers have framed the adoption of the TPNW as an irrational outburst of emotions. In this article, I investigate Norway’s nuclear disarmament diplomacy in the period from 2005 to 2013. Against the revisionists, I argue that the goal of negotiating a new legal instrument outlawing nuclear weapons provided a key aim for the Norwegian centre–left coalition government from 2010 onwards. Drawing on elite interviews, internal MFA documents released on freedom of information requests, and official statements by foreign policy officials, I maintain that the humanitarian initiative, including the pursuit of a new legal instrument, was products of a carefully deliberated policy of strategic social construction.

ШВЕДСКИЙ ЗАТОР (По поводу выборов‑2018)

The article examines results of the Swedish general election in September 2018, grave consequences of which have affected the ability of the Parliament to form a government and hereby to ensure continuity of exercising of the legislative and executive powers. The main outcome of the election was a relapse of a hung parliament with the antiimmigration Sweden Democrats holding the balance of power, while neither the centre-left nor the centre-right bloc is willing to do a deal with them. Compared to the results of the previous election of 2014, in 2018, the situation was aggravated by strengthening of the Sweden Democrats’ position in the riksdag and the establishment of equilibrium between the blocks that made it difficult to resolve the issue of a legitimate contender for the government formation. Although all the parties agree that the time of bloc politics has passed and cross-bloc cooperation is necessary, it has proved extremely complicated to implement this idea. Never before has process of forming the government been so timeconsuming. The original cause of the complication is to be sought in sharp rise of culturally different immigration since the beginning of the 21st century. This is the rise that generated the electorate’s demands for refusal to unrestricted immigration policy and for a party insisting on a serious restriction of the culturally different immigration. The Sweden Democrats have become such a party. Sweden will now contend with a fractured party-political landscape in which the center-right and center-left coalitions that have defined its politics for decades are deadlocked, and in the absence of the cross-bloc cooperation, the party-kingmaker is in a position to be a decisive force. All of this means that government crises and snap elections unknown to the country for many decades can become a usual thing. Thus, the Swedish election of 2018 has manifested that an accelerated multiculturalisation of a democratic society carries with itself acute political imbalances.

Le elezioni comunali di Parma (2012-2017)

The article describes the political evolution of the Italian Five Star Movement (Movimento 5 Stelle - M5S) at the local level (2009-2012) with a specific reference to the «Italian Stalingrad» i.e. the city of Parma. In the administrative elections held in 2012 the M5S was able to get its first Major, Federico Pizzarotti, who was unexpectedly elected in the second round defeating the center left coalition. Born as a local and civic experience in the so called Meetup (local party meetings), the M5S of Parma is an example of «overpromising populism» (Mény & Surel 2000) accused by Beppe Grillo (the central office) of a compromise-collusion made by Pizzarotti with the «old» power (traditional parties). Firstly, a short overview of the local evolution of M5S is given in order to better understand its level of local penetration and representation between 2009-2014. Secondly, the analysis of the 2012-2017 electoral campaigns will be described taken into consideration the political characteristics of all the competitors and the main determinants of Pizzarotti's two electoral success. Thirdly, some hypothesesabout the future of the «Effetto Parma» civic party and Pizzarotti's leadership at the local and national level will be provided.

Primary elections between fortuna and virtù

ABSTRACTPrimaries have become an almost indispensable tool of the political game in the Italian centre-left coalition and, especially, within the Democratic Party. This article explores what has led to this important institutional change in the candidate and leadership selection processes. It assesses the consequences with reference to both competition and inclusiveness. It concludes by stressing that, frequent, undocumented and unfounded criticisms notwithstanding, Italian primaries have played, and promise to continue to play, quite a positive role in the Italian political system.

Focus: ‘Vestiges of Dictatorship - Copper and Labour Reform in Chile

[Chile’s] advances over the past 25 years’. In the concluding statement of his visit, Kiai observed: The ghost of this era looms particularly large over the security sector, chiefly the police— and specifically the Special Forces— and their function in policing social conflicts and assemblies… I am particularly disturbed by the killing in July 2015 in El Salvador of Nelson Quichillao, a contract copper mine worker who was shot dead by Special Forces who used live ammunition during a protest calling for better pay and benefits. Authorities claim that the protest was not entirely peaceful . However, the police response raises serious questions regarding proportionality of response. Individuals retain at all times their rights to life and physical integrity, even if they become violent during protests, and it is the State’s duty to safeguard these rights… It is also imperative that the Government ensures that all employers cease anti-union activities such as targeting and firing workers for exercising their right to strike, which demeans the right. I urge the Government to continue taking measures to bring its legislation into full compliance with ILO Conventions 87 and 98 as urged by ILO’s Committee on Experts on the Application of Conventions and Recommendations. It is clear to me that the government values the contributions of the private sector to the economy and policy. But it is not so obvious that it values civil society associations, including trade unions, in a similar manner. The Special Rapporteur’s drawing attention to the killing of Nelson Quichillao López is a welcome effort to raise awareness of the situation of the labour movement in Chile’s mining industry. Maina Kiai is due to submit his full report on Chile to the UN Human Rights Council in June 2016. We reported on the case in IUR 22.3 last year. While a police investigation into the case has been opened, reports at the time indicated that the strikers, unarmed, were shot at by Special Forces after they barricaded the entrance and halted production at Codelco’s El Salvador mine. Organised by the Confederación de Trabajadores del Cobre (CTC) union, the strike was part of a coordinated action across seven Codelco sites. CTC resorted to strike action on behalf of Codelco’s contract workers, after Codelco refused to negotiate on their pay and conditions of employment. According to the CTC, workers were building a dirt barricade with a bulldozer when police opened fire. Several other strikers were injured. The killing provoked furIn September 2015, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the rights to freedom of peaceful assembly and of association, noted that Chile continues to face ‘deep and significant social challenges’ INTERNATIONAL union rights Page 12 Volume 23 Issue 1 2016 O n 22 March 2016, thousands of workers and students took to the streets in Santiago de Chile to demonstrate their support for a general strike called by the Central Unitaria de Trabajadores (CUT), Chile’s largest national federation . The protestors were demanding the strengthening of trade union rights in the proposed labour reform Bill, as well as reforms to pensions and public health and an overhaul of the constitution. Labour reform has long been on the agenda for President Michelle Bachelet and the centre-left coalition Nueva Mayoría. In April, weeks after the demonstration and after over a year of negotiations, both houses of the National Congress (Cámara de Diputados and Senado) approved the labour reform Bill. Members of the opposition (centre-right) coalition Chile Vamos immediately announced that they would challenge the reforms in the Constitutional Court, a process which will delay the enactment of the Bill for a further 30 to 45 days. Among the most controversial aspects of the Bill are those concerning the union rights of contract workers and the regulation of strikes. The proposals have provoked strong opposition from the national employers’ organisation (la Confederación de la Producción y del Comercio, CPC) who allege that the reforms will privilege unionised workers in large enterprises over the country’s growing number of unemployed, and impact on wage bills and productivity. Moreover, these reforms are taking place in a highly volatile period for the country...

Le elezioni amministrative del 2014 a Perugia: la fine di un sistema politico locale

The Italian local election held in spring 2014 resulted in a surprising political landscape. In particular, in the Umbrian town of Perugia, where for the first time in history, the centre-left coalition has lost the political leadership of the city, after having administered for almost seventy years after the end of World War II. In Umbrian capital in fact the mayoral candidate of the Democratic Party was defeated after the second round by the candidate of the centre-right coalition. This article tries to shed lights on the reasons behind this political change. More specifically, the article looks at the electoral results of 2014, 2009 and 2004; moreover, it is based on interviews to politicians and observers. After this analysis, a comparison with the case of the 2014 municipal elections of Livorno will be provided. As a conclusion, the article tries to understand if the political changes experienced by both Perugia and Livorno can be a signal of a big transformation of local power and if they can also be extended to other territories.

Una revolución neoliberal: la política educacional en Chile desde la dictadura militar

Resumen El artículo propone una lectura analítica del sistema educacional chileno a partir de la dictadura cívico-militar, encabezada por Augusto Pinochet (1973-1990), en la que se transforma el modelo social, económico y político del país, imponiendo un Estado neoliberal incluso antes de que este modelo se vislumbrara como el horizonte en el resto de la región. Se recorre el proceso de transformación del sistema de educación chileno, los cambios en la morfología del sistema escolar y sus consecuencias, así como la consolidación de esta matriz durante los gobiernos democráticos de la coalición de centro izquierda, la Concertación (1990-2010). Si bien el desarrollo de este proyecto educacional se inicia con fuertes tensiones ideológicas entre el catolicismo y el liberalismo, estos logran converger en el principio de libertad de enseñanza. Bajo esta premisa, se articulan numerosas reformas que dan forma a un sistema educacional neoliberal. En consecuencia, se dará cuenta de la configuración de un nuevo orden educativo, hoy arraigado en la sociedad chilena, en el que la educación se establece como un bien individual bajo la égida de la competencia generalizada, el objetivo de la eficiencia y la cultura de la evaluación. Este artículo surge en el marco del desarrollo de mi tesis doctoral y se basa principalmente en el análisis de literatura académica y textos oficiales.