Bertjan Verbeek

Italy: a case of mutating populism?

Italy is often presented as a showcase of populist parties. In the 2013 parliamentary elections, half of the Italian electorate voted for a party that has been labelled populist. During the 1994–2011 period, Italy witnessed four coalition governments dominated by populists. In line with the framework guiding this special issue, Italy thus offers a unique opportunity to trace the reactions of political and societal actors to populists in government. We propose that it is necessary to examine not only how populisms opponents react, but also how fellow populists respond. Indeed, we observe in Italy, on the one hand, what we will call mutating populism and, on the other hand, a peculiar mixture of paralysis, antagonism, and imitation by their opponents. This contribution is structured as follows: first, we describe Italian populism in the context of the end of the Italian First Republic and the emergence of the new party system under the Second Republic. In the process we discuss events under the four Berlusconi governments (1994–1995; 2001–2005; 2005–2006; 2008–2011). In each phase, we distinguish between populist and anti-populist contenders. We also describe the reactions abroad to governing Italian populists, especially within the European Union.

The impact of populist radical right parties on foreign policy: the Northern League as a junior coalition partner in the Berlusconi Governments

Despite the populist radical right’s (PRR) popularity among political scientists, little scholarship has focused on its influence on foreign policy. This lack of study is due, in part, to a general lack of attention to the role of political parties in foreign policy, both in comparative politics and international relations (IR). This is unfortunate because, due to Europeanization and globalization, the domain of foreign policy has expanded, making foreign policy increasingly a domestic concern and, most importantly, touching on major themes of PRR parties. Combining insights from comparative politics and IR, we theorize the mechanisms, which may facilitate the impact of such parties on foreign policy. Subsequently, we examine whether the Italian Northern League (LN), as a prime example of a PRR party participating in a coalition government, has had an impact on Italy’s foreign policy and, if so, what accounts for this (lack of) influence. This paper concludes that, unlike common understanding, the PRR is not persistently anti-internationalist/anti-EU; rather, its position depends on the extent to which international politics helps or hinders the promotion of ‘the people’. Second, despite the LN’s strong coalition position, it pursued an effective foreign policy mainly regarding immigration policy. Third, IR theories of junior coalition partners and foreign policy should address the nature of the party system and how inter-party electoral competition affects the strength of a junior coalition partner. Fourth, these theories need to acknowledge that party preferences are sometimes trumped by national concerns, as suggested by more systemic IR theories.

Institutional Change in the Emerging European Polity

Few researchers in international and comparative politics and public administration would disagree with the observation that, as a result of the spectacular rise of internationalization and globalization — ‘the spatial and temporal implosion of the globe’ (Ruggie, 1993: 168) — the nation state is in full retreat. For such people it is more or less common knowledge that the enormous increase in interdependence on a worldwide scale during the last few decades has seriously, and perhaps even fatally, weakened the efficacy of the nation state. This applies a fortiori to the nation states that make up the European Union (EU). Although the EU was initially set up by these states for the very reason that they wanted to cope with the negative effects of increasing interdependence (cf. Milward, 1992; Moravcsik, 1998), it is widely accepted that the member states of the EU ‘are no longer ‘Westphalian’ in terms of their substantial statehood. They exemplify a new type of statehood... For lack of a better term, this new form of statehood can be labelled ‘postmodern’ (Sorensen, 1999: 602).

Does Might Still Make Right? International Relations Theory and the Use of International Law Regarding the 2003 Iraq War

Theories of International Relations take various positions regarding the role of international law in international politics. This article identifies four different perspectives on that role by making two distinctions: first, between approaches that assume that states act on the basis of a cost-benefit analysis and approaches that assume that states act upon shared ideas; second, between theories that assume that sovereign states are the only relevant players in international politics and theories that allow for the possibility that domestic and transnational players may affect international politics as well. Subsequently, the article investigates the choices made by France, Italy, the Netherlands, the United Kingdom and the United States prior to the 2003 war against Iraq. The four perspectives on the role of international law provide different interpretations of the weight these states attached to international law when considering the use of violence against Iraq.