James L. Newell

Outsider parties in government in Western Europe

Over the past two decades, a growing number of ‘outsider parties’ have entered governing centre-left and centre-right coalitions across Western Europe. In this introduction, we first define outsider parties as those which — even when their vote-share would have enabled it — have gone through a period of not being ‘coalitionable’, whether of their own volition or that of other parties in the system. Based on the articles in this issue, we then discuss the problems which outsider parties encounter when entering government and suggest some reasons for the success and failure of these parties in office. Finally, we propose a number of avenues for further research, in particular that of examining differences between the first and subsequent experiences of office for such parties.

Di lotta e di governo: The Lega Nord and Rifondazione Comunista in Office

Since 1994, Italian politics has seen a number of coalitions including parties whose identity has been strongly based on their ‘outsider’ status as uncompromising opposition movements which would not previously consider government participation. This article examines the contrasting experiences in office of two such parties: the regionalist populist Lega Nord (LN) and the radical left Rifondazione Comunista (RC). While the Lega confounded expectations not only simply by remaining in the centre-right coalition from 2001 to 2006, but by influencing policy, increasing its vote-share and maintaining its ‘outsider’ identity, RC was unable to match its fellow outsider’s success when it served in the centre-left government from 2006 to 2008. Looking at the experiences in office of the RC and the LN in terms of the three temporal divisions ‘before’, ‘during’ and ‘after’, this article seeks to analyse and explain the differing experiences and effects of government on both parties.

The Italian election of May 2006: Myths and realities

The general election of 9 and 10 April was one of the closest fought in Italy’s history. In the Chamber of Deputies, the centre-left Unione coalition emerged ahead of the centre-right Casa delle liberta` (House of Freedoms, Cdl) by just 24,755 votes (though owing to the electoral law, the majority in terms of seats was a comfortable 66). In the Senate the Unione won just two seats more than the Cdl (and was behind by 124,273 votes).1 However, what was most striking about the outcome was less the sheer narrowness of the centreleft’s victory than the fact that what polls had suggested would be a certain triumph was instead an outcome that was uncertain until almost the last of the votes had been counted.2 Explanations for the large divergence between poll predictions and votes cast will presumably be offered by polling experts in the weeks to come. Here I will pursue more modest goals, offering some reflections on the causes of the outcome itself and on its significance for the general thrust of Italian politics. In the following section I consider what it was that led to the introduction, in December 2005, of a new electoral law, combining majoritarian and proportional elements, and the impact of this law on the line-ups among which voters were called upon to choose. The two subsequent sections consider the campaign and the vote, the final section the election aftermath.

Party organisations and alliances in Italy in the 1990s : a revolution of sorts

This study analyses the changes which have taken place in Italian political parties and the alliances they have formulated in the 1990s, changes which are visible at three levels: the disappearance of old parties and their replacement with new organisations; organisational innovation in many of the new parties, and a new pattern of alliances ‐ which is increasingly shaped by bipolarity. The changes are analysed in three periods, each of which culminates in a landmark national election: 1987–92, 1992–94 and 1994–96. The conclusion assesses the significance and likely permanence of the new constellation of parties and alliances.

Characterising the Italian parliament: Legislative change in longitudinal perspective

Despite the emergence of a bipolar party system following the introduction of a new electoral law in 1993, the Italian parliament remains an exception to the rule that legislatures have little influence over policy. It was reasonable to think that party competition, based on two coalitions each competing for overall majorities, would allow governments after 1993 to subordinate the legislature to their will through cohesive majorities. That this has not happened is to be attributed to the timing of the 1993 reform, the consequent persistence, in parliament, of large numbers of veto players, and hence the absence of legal rules and structures allowing straightforward majority decision-making. Faced, since the early 1990s, with pressure to act more decisively, governments have sought to bypass parliament through an increasing recourse to laws of delegation. Parliament has sought to compensate for its diminished role in governance by heightened activity in the area of oversight.

New avenues in the study of political corruption

This article argues that the 1990s have witnessed a sea change in the study of political corruption, especially in political science. It explores the reasons for the relative neglect of corruption by political science in the past, and suggests that a process is underway whereby the study of corruption is becoming more integrated into the mainstream of the discipline. It explores the paradox of the co-existence of unresolved disputes about the definition of corruption with a consensus on the severity of the problem, suggesting that corruption remains a worthwhile object of investigation. Finally, it summarises how the contributions to this special issue light possible new avenues in the study of the phenomenon.

The Prodi government of 2006 and 2007: A retrospective look

Now that the fifteenth legislature has come to an end, it is appropriate to assess the performance of the government whose fall was responsible for this event, as well as the coalitions significance for the trajectory of Italian politics generally. The four articles that follow this one together initiate the task, exploring performance from an institutional and policy-making point of view. This article suggests four criteria for evaluating the performance of any government and offers a brief initial ‘summary report’ in terms of them  – paying special attention to implementation of the programme and to communications. Bearing in mind the structural conditions in which it had to work, the government had some notable achievements to its credit, but these same conditions undermined it by opening up an unbridgeable gap between performance and popular perceptions of performance.

Turning Over a New Leaf?: Cohesion and Discipline in the Italian Parliament

The literature on parties suggests various hypotheses about the conditions under which the cohesion and discipline of parliamentary parties will be greater or lesser. Since one such hypothesis concerns party‐system characteristics, Italy offers an opportunity to investigate what happens to cohesion and discipline when a system characterised by the permanence in office of a large, centrally located party and based on the permanent exclusion of left and right extremes, is replaced by one characterised by strong bi‐polar tendencies and the alternation in office of two competing coalitions. Italys transformation appears to have produced more cohesive and disciplined behaviour in parliament.

The man who never was? The Italian transition and 2008 election

Abstract The implications for the co-called Italian transition of the 2008 election initially seemed significant – but have since become increasingly uncertain as Berlusconis conflict of interests has risen higher up the political agenda. This underscores the pertinence of asking about the sense in which the notion of ‘transition’ is actually applicable to the Italian case at all – bearing in mind that it describes a process now supposedly underway for some 17 years; and bearing in mind that its end point can seemingly not be identified (though by definition ‘transition’ implies movement between two points). Discovering if the term applies to the Italian case and if so whether 2008 has brought its conclusion nearer requires exploring if the political protagonists that have emerged from the election as the most significant players – the Popolo della Libertà and the Partito Democratico – have sufficient commonality of view, sufficient desire and sufficient power to complete a process of constitutional overhaul. The evidence suggests that while they have the view and the desire, there are significant limitations on their power. The election might potentially have been a watershed in the so-called Italian transition in the broader sense of system performance, aside from formal constitutional change. Here too, however, the evidence points away from the idea that 2008 represents a real sea change – though the chances seem good that it will come to be perceived as such.

Towards the End of a Long Transition? Bipolarity and Instability in Italy's Changing Political System

This article analyses the significance of the 2008 general election for the prospects of an early conclusion to Italys transition from a First to a Second Republic. The election saw not only the return of Berlusconi to power, but also a radical simplification of Italian politics, with a considerable reduction in the number of parliamentary groups and the emergence of much more straightforward and clear-cut governing and opposition roles. The likelihood of a successful conclusion to the transition was increased by the agreement of governing and opposition forces in the immediate aftermath of the campaign to search actively for mutually acceptable institutional reforms.