Italian Politics Research Articles

Actors and structures in politics

This manuscript reports, with minor variations, the opening Key Lecture of the Italian Political Science Association Conference held in Trieste on September 12, 2024. This text consists of tentative but hopefully not random thoughts on the topic of the relationship between ‘actors’ and ‘structures’ in politics. It defends some lines of research that the author regards as definitely needed in the current state of the discipline. It covers a great number of complex topics that is compelled to treat succinctly and for this owes apologies to the audience. The title includes three terms; actors, structures and politics. The first two terms do not require special clarification, except for two points. First, they are used as synonymous of the terms ‘micro’ (referring to actors) and ‘macro’ (referring to structures). Second, the text avoids to enter in the extensive theoretical literature that discuss the terms ‘structure’ and ‘structuralism’. The term ‘structure’ is used for the ‘constellation of political actors’, as discussed later in the text. In this context, the term ‘politics’ means simply that the relationship between actors and structures will be seen from the specific point of view of political science. This is a vantage point of view with respect to how the problem is usually framed in sociology and economics.

Italian Politics and Constitutional Views After the Elections in April 1996

Italian Politics and Constitutional Views After the Elections in April 1996

Judicial Populism and Corruption Prosecutions in the Mani Pulite Operation

Abstract I provide a new analytical framework to understand the effectiveness of corruption prosecutions in the so-called Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) operation by showing how this operation was rooted in a populist interpretation of criminal rules and criminal procedure. The Clean Hands operation represented a successful breakthrough against the vast and complex corruption system that had sustained Italian politics for decades. I show that prosecutors in the Clean Hands operation interpreted legal rules through the lens of a deep-seated hostility between a vague conglomerate of “corrupt elites” and “virtuous citizens.” This populist interpretation of criminal and procedural rules introduced significant legal innovations that empowered judicial actors against systemic corruption by creating unprecedented incentives for defendants to cooperate with legal authorities. Consequently, the judicial professionals leading the Clean Hands operation also felt the need to shield themselves against retaliation for the use of these novel approaches to corruption prosecution by bringing their fight before the court of public opinion. To this end, the Clean Hands prosecutors made use of targeted media interventions to rally public support around their investigation and protect their work from political interference.

The political life and times of Silvio Berlusconi1

ABSTRACT Silvio Berlusconi’s political life and legacy have left a profound and lasting imprint on Italian politics. Not only as prime minister but also as the leader of his party, he shaped at least two decades of Italian politics. With an ‘eccentric’ leadership style, Berlusconi approached the roles of party and government leadership in an entirely novel manner. This special issue on the Political Life and Times of Berlusconi deepens our understanding of his significant role in Italian political history. Each article examines a different aspect of his multifaceted leadership, and addresses the challenges of studying a figure as complex and divisive as Berlusconi, who dominated Italian politics for three decades.

The narcissistic celebrity leader: Berlusconi’s communication style and its impact on Italian leadership

ABSTRACT Among the many facets of Silvio Berlusconi’s extensive political career, his communication strategies and techniques stand out as particularly significant. This prominence is largely due to his dual role as a media tycoon and a flamboyant, narcissistic figure, both of which heavily influenced his public communication style. This article delves into Berlusconi’s communication approach as a critical element of his leadership. It examines how Berlusconi shaped his leadership image over the decades, focusing on his personality, storytelling, and the media and political marketing tools he employed to project his persona. Furthermore, in its concluding part, it investigates whether recent Italian leaders, particularly those who emerged in the 2010s after Berlusconi’s tenure, exhibit traits traceable to Berlusconi’s innovations. The article’s initial sections explore Berlusconi’s personality profile, his narrative techniques, and the media and political marketing strategies he used. The penultimate section highlights the interplay of these elements, showing how they created a distinctive, innovative leadership style linked to various facets of celebrity politics, sometimes in extreme forms. This section also addresses the legacy of Berlusconi’s leadership style, proposing that it served as a model for later Italian leaders, influencing their communication and image-building strategies. The article concludes by noting how, as a consequence, Berlusconi’s leadership model has been a transformative factor in Italian politics.

Silvio Berlusconi, Forza Italia, and Berlusconism: a political and cultural enterprise

ABSTRACT Silvio Berlusconi instigated a significant and lasting transformation in Italian politics. He revolutionized political communication, established a personal party, personalized the political process, and influenced the alteration of the party system. His approach was marked by a mix of diverse and sometimes contradictory elements. For example, this new political figure, who claimed to be the most important statesman in Italian history, strived to maintain his image as an outsider and non-politician. He framed himself, his party and his coalition as expressions of the centre-right, yet he was undeniably a new kind of populist, leveraging his vast media empire for the purposes of political mobilization. Berlusconi also succeeded in creating ‘Berlusconism’, a unique political culture that I will discuss, along with an anthropological transformation of politics and society. Thus, even after Berlusconi’s death, the legacy of Berlusconism endures in Italy. Moreover, in the mainstream literature, Berlusconi has often been seen as evidence of the ‘abnormality’ of Italian democracy. Contrary to this view, I argue that despite Italy’s distinct national characteristics, Berlusconi exemplified the first instance of a profound metamorphosis affecting many European democracies, which are no longer strictly classical liberal and representative models.

Max Weber meets Silvio Berlusconi’s charismatic parties. The history of a spectacular failure

ABSTRACT Silvio Berlusconi emerged as a central figure in Italian politics following the collapse of the mass-based party system in the early 1990s. As a political leader, he introduced significant innovations in various fields of politics: new campaign methods; a unique leadership style and language; novel coalition strategies, and fresh ideological content. This article focuses on one key innovation: the creation of a genuinely new political party with an original organizational model. Despite the electoral success of Silvio Berlusconi’s political parties (Forza Italia and later Popolo della Libertà), there has been little theoretical and especially empirical work devoted to studying them. This paper aims to fill that gap by examining the entire trajectory of Forza Italia from its inception to the present, highlighting its quintessentially charismatic nature in Weberian terms. The first section of the article discusses how scholars have variously perceived Forza Italia – as a personalized/charismatic party, a catch-all party, a franchise party, or a business-firm party. The article then considers the factors that have hindered its institutionalization. In the final section, the paper critically analyses the legacy of Berlusconi’s parties for the stability of the Italian party system and, more broadly, for the quality of democracy in Italy.

Targeting muslims beyond Europe: preventing violent extremism and radicalisation in Kosovo

Ervjola Selenica is post-doc fellow and adjunct professor in Terrorism and Counterterrorism at the University of Bologna and associate research fellow at the University of Sussex. Previously, she was post-doc fellow at Scuola Normale Superiore (Firenze). She holds a PhD in International Studies (University of Trento), an MSc. in International Development Studies (University of Amsterdam), a BA in International Relations and Political Science (University of Bologna), and a PGDip on Peace and Conflict (Peace Research Institute Oslo). Her research interests include education, international interventions, conflict, global changes. She has published at The Journal of Contemporary European Studies, Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienze Politiche, Critical Studies on Terrorism, Globalisation, Societies and Education, and Journal of Southeast European and Black Sea Studies. The paper analyses national and international interventions on preventing and countering violent extremism (P/CVE) and radicalisation in Kosovo and their underpinning rationales. The analysis seeks to understand how a country with a Muslim majority is targeted by P/CVE and counter-radicalisation policies. Furthermore, it seeks to understand whether these policies are informed by an understanding of violent extremism and radicalisation as underpinned by Islamic extremism and, if so, how they tackle and interact with the question of Islam in Kosovo. The article has found that P/CVE and counter-radicalisation policies in Kosovo are mainly externally driven and funded, rest upon the same preventative, anticipatory logic that has characterised similar policies implemented in EU member states, are informed by an understanding of violent extremism and radicalisation as ideological processes fuelled by radical Islam, and encompasses an all-societal approach combining hard and soft measures of prevention as those found in other EU and non-EU contexts.

Fascism in the public sphere of post-fascist Italy

ABSTRACT Over the entire post-war period up to the present day, the endurance of fascism has remained a significant subject of Italian politics. The neo-fascist party, Movimento Sociale Italiano (M.S.I.), was born immediately after the Second World War. Furthermore, the transition to the Republic coexisted with structural continuity with the dictatorship: many elements of the fascist state, such as the administrative institutions, the central bureaucracy and the economic ruling class, were maintained. Alongside concrete (both political and institutional) continuities, we can also observe diverse continuities that marked cultures, languages, and political discourses. The shadow of fascism has often invaded the public sphere in ways that condition the political debate and cultural imaginary. Firstly, for all the democratic and progressive parties and movements Mussolini’s dictatorship has been a constant negative reference point from which they openly distance themselves. Secondly, the spectre of fascism has always been evoked in the political debate with respect to the present and to warn against the return of authoritarianism in new forms. Thirdly, many periodicals, novels, films, comics, and television programmes have trivialized the historical experience of Italian fascism, representing it, through recurrent narrative clichés, as a sort of phenomenon only partially corresponding to historical reality.

Christian democracy as political spirituality: transcendence as transformation—Italian politics, 1942–1953

AbstractThis article deals with the transformation of Catholic politics in Italy between 1942 and 1945 and the emergence of Christian Democracy as the dominant political party in the postwar years. It analyzes how Catholic politicians turned from reactionary critics of democracy to its champion. The article foregrounds a dimension that has not been given sufficient attention in scholarly works on political Catholicism and Christian Democracy, namely the religious content of thought. In the experiences of politicians and thinkers living through Fascism and war, transcendence and spirituality emerged as new markers of certainty that came to re-direct and ground democracy. Our conceptual argument is that Christian Democracy can be understood as a distinct form of “political spirituality,” pace Foucault. The article further shows how this political spirituality became “applied” in a series of ways in the immediate postwar period.

Elly versus Giorgia? The political leadership of Elly Schlein and Giorgia Meloni between myth and reality

ABSTRACT 2023 has been a year marking a turning point, with two women in leading positions for the first time in Italian politics. Elly Schlein was elected leader of the Democratic Party in February 2023, while a few months earlier Giorgia Meloni, leader of the radical right Brothers of Italy, became prime minister. When Schlein and Meloni celebrated their victory with the identical phrase ‘They [the men] didn’t see us coming’, both leaders showed great awareness that their rise shook the traditionally Italian male dominated political environment. Will the election of the two leaders result in a more structural change? The article seeks to address this issue, focusing on three key aspects: the historical roots of the women’s exclusion from Italian politics; the distinctive political careers of Meloni and Schlein; and the success of the radical right Meloni government in defending the traditional family, while Schlein is facing difficulties to revive the party and to build a single opposition.

The many political legacies of Silvio Berlusconi

ABSTRACT Silvio Berlusconi’s enduring influence on Italian politics is profound, marking a transformative era that reshaped the nation’s political, institutional, and communicative landscapes. As Italy’s longest-serving prime minister since World War II, Berlusconi’s tenure and actions have left indelible marks on the country’s governance and political culture. His leadership of Forza Italia, a party he founded in 1994, epitomizes his central role in fostering a political environment characterized by personalized leadership and media-centric campaigning. This analysis explores Berlusconi’s multifaceted legacy, from his party’s organizational and financial strategies to his impact on Italy’s political system and media landscape. It discusses the challenges and transformations within Forza Italia and the broader right-wing coalition in the post-Berlusconi era, assessing the party’s future and Berlusconi’s lasting imprint on Italian politics and media.

From ‘Anomaly’ to ‘Laboratory’? Fratelli d’Italia, Illiberalism and the Study of Right-Wing Parties in Western Europe

Once considered an anomaly for its polarized pluralism, then marked, over the last three decades, by frequent alternations between populist and technocratic governments, Italy is now the only country in Western Europe whose coalition government is led by a party usually classified in the populist radical right family, Giorgia Meloni’s Brothers of Italy (Fratelli d’Italia). While this means that the country has finally its first female Prime Minister, understanding the trajectory of the party is important not just for the state of Italian politics but also for comparative politics more in general. Taking stock of the recent literature on Meloni’s party, it appears that the choices made by the Fratelli d’Italia – in Italy and in Europe – can resonate beyond the national borders especially in terms of illiberal ideologies and practices of right-wing parties.

THE LEFT TURN OF THE ITALIAN DEMOCRATIC PARTY (PD): PRIMARY ELECTIONS AND POLICY PREFERENCES

On February 26, 2023, for the first time in the history of the Democratic Party, the leading Italian progressive party, a woman, Elly Schlein, was elected leader through open primaries that contradicted the outcome of consultations among the membership. Observing the outcome of an exit poll conducted by the Standing Group Candidate and Leader Selection of the Italian Political Science Society focusing on the policy priorities of the electorate, it clearly emerges that the inclusive rules of intra-party democracy, under certain conditions, can impact the identity of the party, leading in this case to a sharp turn to the left. More specifically, the positions of the electorates of the two candidates, Elly Schlein and Stefano Bonaccini, diverge significantly on issues that appear to be crucial for the political positioning of the party.

Populism and Anti-Intellectualism: the Evolution of the Political Views of the Italian "Five Star Movement" (2005–2022)

Among the characterizing features of populism, which has become an integral part of the party-political systems of Western countries, anti-intellectualism is often listed. It is understood as distrust of intellectuals, expert knowledge and the scientific community. Italy, the “political laboratory of Europe,” provides rich material for studying the connection between anti-intellectualism and populism. This article attempts to analyze the role and evolution of anti-intellectualism in populist discourse using the example of the Italian Five Star Movement (M5S). Five Stars, founded by comedian Beppe Grillo and IT entrepreneur Gianroberto Casaleggio, has become one of the main parties in the country, while expressing controversial views from the point of view of the scientific community. Using qualitative text and discourse analysis, the party's official blogs, M5S bills, articles from Italian and foreign media are analyzed. As a result, this work offers a balanced view of the gradual development of anti-intellectual sentiments within the Movement in the context of the overall process of institutionalization of the party into the mainstream of Italian politics during the period of 2005–2022. The subject of this article remains completely unexplored in Russian scientific literature and little studied in foreign science. Analysis of this subject shows that in the process of institutionalization, the long stay of the anti-establishment party in government, populist rhetoric, including anti-intellectual rhetoric, is emasculated and approaches the “mainstream”.

Christian vs liberal conceptions of human rights

The Catholic Church has traditionally raised four objections to the doctrine of human rights in its liberal version: the lack of reference to God as the source of human rights, individualism, the absence of a list of human duties accompanying individual rights, and the doctrine’s vulnerability to proliferation and creative interpretation of those rights. The paper mainly focuses on the first two concerns. From the point of view of secular liberalism, the idea of God appears as an unnecessary by-product of the process of human evolution. From the point of view of Christianity, creation in the image and likeness of God is the source of man’s inalienable dignity, and serves, at the same time, to safeguard his rights from reinterpretation by the state, should the state consider itself the source of such rights. Christianity presents man as an inherently social being, with two communities, i.e., the family and the nation, that are recognized as natural. Liberal individualism views people as a collection of elementary particles that collide with one another but never connect. The difference is fundamental when it comes to attitudes towards obligations prior to individual decisions, but also when it comes to a person’s emotional backing. The human being, therefore, seeks to create either family-type ties, or merely ones based on a voluntary contract. It is a paradox that the more atomized a society is, the more necessary a strong state becomes to guarantee individual rights and a sense of security in times of crisis. As a result, a system called statist individualism comes to existence. Religion not only reveals the ultimate meaning of human life and the reasons for which it is worthwhile to be human, but it has also been a source of public morality. The liberal concept of neutrality and the privatization of religion reopen the question of the axiological foundations of the state. On the one hand, why, in the end, should people obey state laws when the state itself convinces them that they are morally neutral? On the other hand, this raises the question of the preferred model of education. From the point of view of the state and society, can a culturally and axiologically neutral education, in which children are taught about what is allowed and what is forbidden by law, but not about what is morally right and wrong, be sufficient? One answer suggests that a liberal state conceived in this way is unstable, and able to exist only for a while. The alternative would be a liberal state that is imperfect, culturally charged, and open to the presence of the Church as a public and publicly meaningful authority.
 Benedict XVI, in a discussion on Marcello Pera’s interpretation of the doctrine on human rights, says: “It was only thanks to your book that it became clear to me how much the encyclical Pacem in terris had set a new direction in thinking. I was aware of the strong influence of the encyclical on Italian politics: it gave a decisive impulse to the opening of Christian Democracy to leftist views. However, I did not realize to what great an extent it signified a new premise also to the basis of the party's thinking”. Pera himself believes that the Church, by making the doctrine of human rights part of the Church Magisterium, proclaimed “by virtue of the Gospel committed to her” (Gaudium et spes, 41) has fallen into a “liberal trap”.

Political and gender narratives: An immersion in contemporary Italy through the social lens on women leaders

This article presents a comparative analysis between two prominent figures in contemporary Italian politics, Giorgia Meloni and Elly Schlein, with a particular focus on the gender dynamics that permeate their political context and influence their public trajectory. Through an in-depth exploration of their political narratives, the analysis centers on the use of gender as a central element in both leaders' strategies. The initial phase of the analysis involved a quantitative assessment conducted through social data analysis to understand the extent of online presence and influence of the two political figures under examination. Only subsequently are the discourses and public communications related to women, family, and gender issues highlighted and analyzed. This research aims to provide a unique perspective on how political and gender positions influence politics and contribute to an understanding of contemporary political dynamics in Italy

The Clean Hands of Populism: The Paradox of the Italian “Tangentopoli”

The corruption scandal of Tangentopoli broke out in Italy in early 1992, playing a capital role in the re-shaping of Italian politics and economics. The claim for legality boosted those reforms that turned the Italian political system from a parliamentary regime to a de facto presidential state. Under the quest for legality, it was also possible to dismantle the active state participation in the country’s economy, so as to also practice in Italy the neo-liberal roll back of the state. Tangentopoli is also characterized by the paradoxical aspect of boosting penal populism. Despite corruption concerned both the political and the entrepreneurial spheres, no meaningful anti-corruption law was passed after 1992.

The Italian left at a critical juncture: disanchoring the past, embracing the present

ABSTRACT On September 25, 2022, the Italian left faced a significant electoral setback as the centre-right coalition, led by Giorgia Meloni, secured a remarkable electoral win. Historically, the left had been represented by major parties like the Italian Communist Party (P.C.I.) and the Italian Socialist Party (P.S.I.). Their demise in the 1990s, for various reasons, gave rise to new left-leaning ‘umbrella’ entities such as the Ulivo and the Democratic Party (P.D.). Despite some electoral successes by these newer groups, left-wing parties and coalitions have failed to dominate the Italian political scene in recent years. A decline in the definitive meaning of ‘left’ in Italian politics has led to a more fragmented left-wing. As traditional leftist ideologies have waned, some of the emerging left-leaning parties have faced criticism for prioritizing civil rights over socioeconomic issues. Articles in this special issue delve into different facets of the Italian left. Pasquino highlights the stagnation in the left’s political culture since the cold war’s conclusion, while Newell critiques the weakness of the P.D.’s party organization and ideology. Ventura analyses both the P.D.’s organizational challenges and its leadership decisions, whereas Musella emphasizes the P.D.’s shortcomings in updating communication strategies. Pasini, Fasano, and Cerruti dive into the evolving preferences of left-wing voters, while del Palacio touches upon the radical left’s challenges. Mulè and Toso offer insights into the left’s efforts in poverty alleviation. In summary, this special issue underlines the pressing need for the Italian left to refresh its ideologies and strategies to stay relevant and present a competitive alternative to conservative agendas in Italy’s shifting political scene.

ПАПА АЛЕКСАНДР VI И ЧЛЕНЫ СЕМЕЙСТВА БОРДЖИА В ПОЛИТИЧЕСКОЙ ЖИЗНИ ИТАЛИИ КОНЦА XV – НАЧАЛА XVI вв. ЧАСТЬ II. КЛАН БОРДЖИА. ИСТОРИЯ ВОЗВЫШЕНИЯ И УПАДКА

The period of the reign of Alexander VI in Rome is analyzed, his influence on Italian politics is traced. The characteristic features of the historical figures of the Borgia clan, their rise and flourishing are singled out and described. The main reasons that led to the collapse of Borgia are revealed.