Luca Verzichelli

The Europe of elites : a study into the Europeanness of Europe's political and economic elites

Contents: 1 Introduction: European integration as an elite project, Heinrich Best, Gyorgy Lengyel, and Luca Verzichelli; 2 Europe a la carte? European citizenship and its dimensions from the perspective of national elites, Maurizio Cotta and Federico Russo; 3 Ready to run Europe? Perspectives of a supranational career among EU national elites, Nikolas Hube and Luca Verzichelli; 4 National elites’ preferences on the Europeanization of policy making, Jose Real-Dato, Borbala Goncz, and Gyorgy Lengyel; 5 The other side of European identity: elite perceptions of threats to a cohesive Europe, Irmina Matonyte and Vaidas Morkevicius; 6 Elites’ views on European institutions: national experiences sifted through ideological orientations, Daniel Gaxie and Nicolas Hube; 7 Patterns of regional diversity in political elites’ attitudes, Mladen Lazic, Miguel Jerez-Mir, Vladimir Vuletic, and Rafael Vazquez-Garcia; 8 The elites–masses gap in European integration, Wolfgang C. Muller, Marcelo Jenny, and Alejandro Ecker; 9 Party elites and the domestic discourse on the EU, Nicolo Conti; 10 Elite foundations of European integration: a causal analysis, Heinrich Best; 11 Elites of Europe and the Europe of elites: a conclusion, Heinrich Best; 12 Appendix. Surveying elites: information on the study design and field report of the IntUne elite survey, Gyorgy Lengyel and Stefan Jahr.

From a Technocratic Solution to a Fragile Grand Coalition: The Impact of the Economic Crisis on Parliamentary Government in Italy

Italy is an interesting case to be included in a comparative analysis of the effects determined by the recent financial crisis on the European political systems, because of the distinctiveness characterising the recent development of this parliamentary democracy. The processes of making and breaking governments, in particular, have been particularly unusual: the end of the governmental experience of Silvio Berlusconi and the formation of the technical government led by Mario Monti have been strongly influenced by external factors, as well as the recent formation of the government guided by Enrico Letta, supported by a broad coalition including the former competing centre-right and centre-left cartels. The paper focuses on the practices of executive–legislative relationships in Italy between 2008 and the 2013 elections. Its basic puzzle is to understand the effective impact determined by the economic crisis over the core mechanisms of parliamentary democracy. Comparing the impact of the governmental policy agenda set by the technocratic cabinet vis-à-vis the previous ‘political’ executives, and measuring the reactions of the different parliamentary actors, it is possible to test a number of empirical propositions concerning the transformation of the adversarial mode that emerged in past years into a more or less consensual parliamentary atmosphere.

A Different Legislature? The Parliamentary Scene Following the 2008 Elections

A number of the chapters in this volume, from different perspectives and using a variety of data, have already shed light on the peculiar outcomes of an election whose results were both decisive and largely expected. However, the longer-term implications of the election are, for the most part, difficult to decipher: The changes in the nature of the electoral supply and in the configuration of the party system would suggest the likelihood of a number of possible interesting developments in terms of the composition of Parliament, in the emergence of a new pattern of executive-legislative relationships and, in the longer term, in the overall mode of functioning of the political system. But to what extent are such possibilities likely to come to pass?

The parliamentary elite in transition

Only two years after the critical elections of 27 March 1994, the Italian parliamentary election of 1996 marks another important step in the transformation of the political class. The extent of turnover is declining, and the renewal of the parliamentary elite shows some signs of stabilization. This article inquires into the differences in the sociological configuration of the new elite, and whether this means that new consolidated pathways to the parliamentary elite now already exist. The article analyzes the distribution of freshmen in the political class, the return of old backbenchers in the new political parties, the social and occupational background of MPs and, finally, their local and political experiences. In the final section, the article discusses some hypotheses about the perspectives on the recruitment of Italian MPs, focusing in particular on the effects of the structural crisis of political parties and the introduction of the plurality system. An empirically-derived typology of professionalization patterns is also provided.

From Letta to Renzi: preliminary data concerning the composition of the new Cabinet and the new executive’s programme (with an appendix concerning the legislative activity of the Letta government)

This article provides an initial analysis of the characteristics of the Renzi government – the 60th to take office since the 1948 constitution came into force. The focus of the article, in particular, is on the composition of the new executive (starting with the ministers’ socio-demographic traits and political careers) and on the government agenda (as indicated by the Prime Minister’s inaugural speech in parliament). A comparison between the new executive, and the Italian governments of the last 15 years, on these aspects is also provided. The appendix of the article reports some data on the legislative activity of the previous Letta government, during its nine months in office.

Parliament and Citizens in Italy: An Unfilled Gap

This article analyses the current relationship between parliament and citizens in Italy, after almost two decades of change and adaptation following the collapse of the post-war party system. All the remarkable changes experienced since the early 1990s, such as the alternation in government of two opposite coalitions, the consolidation of more pronounced adversarial politics and the emergence of political personalisation, have not improved the image of the Italian parliament, which enjoys a low level of trust. The article explains the parliaments effort to become more open and transparent, the role of parties and individual MPs to represent and communicate with their voters and the mechanisms through which citizens try to raise issues directly with parliament. Finally, the main elements of change and continuity between the first and the second republic are assessed. While much is to be done to achieve a better relationship between parliament and citizens, we argue that no institutional reform can have immediate effect if not accompanied by the emergence of a new style of politics.

Changing patterns of ministerial circulation: the Italian case in a long-term perspective

Abstract The circulation of the ruling class has been a relevant concern in political analysis, but investigation of the determinants of a successful career still remains relatively neglected. This article aims at filling this interpretative gap by focusing on long-term transformations of ministerial careers in Italy. By using an original dataset on ministerial careers between 1976 and 2015, the article explains the patterns of intra-governmental career by analysing the selection for higher government offices. A first descriptive analysis leads to the formulation of a working proposition based on the increasing complexity of the patterns of governmental careers. In this context, the new role of the Prime Minister as a principal in the process of ministerial selection and other procedural constraints are discussed. An ordinal logistic regression analysis confirms the validity of such a general proposition, highlighting the relevance of personalisation and policy expertise in the evolution of intra-governmental careers.

Much Ado about Something?: Parliamentary Politics in Italy Amid the Rhetoric of Majority Rule and an Uncertain Party System

This article deals with the transformation of parliamentary politics in Italy, between 1985 and 2001. An unsatisfactory performance in democratic terms and the bottom-up pressures towards a majoritarian democracy during the first part of this period created strong expectations of a new model of parliamentary representation. In spite of this, a quasi-majoritarian form of electoral rule and a totally renewed party system led to increased fragmentation within the legislature and to very uncertain relationships between single representatives, parties and coalitions. Focusing basically on the characters of political representatives and the relationships between parties and parliamentary groups, the paper tries to explain the reasons behind such a difficult process of change within parliamentary politics. The final part discusses the consolidation of parliamentary politics in Italy, and illustrates the conditions required if the risk of a permanent state of parliamentary fluidity is to be avoided. The author is grateful to giliberto capano, marco giuliani and cristina leston-bandeira for their comments. data analysed in this paper are the property of the centre for the study of political change at the university of siena.

Italy: Sunset of a Partitocracy

Between 1992 and 1994 the Italian political system went through a major crisis which directly affected the actors discussed in this book and the relationships between them. Writing in the immediate aftermath of the ‘revolution’ obviously creates special problems. First, the past looks more ‘past’, that is to say, less relevant for understanding the present than in other cases. Second, the ‘new’ is difficult to evaluate accurately and there are still serious doubts as to whether the new rules of the game will be consolidated. On the other hand, the crisis of the ‘old regime’ exposed to public scrutiny a significant part of the less visible side of politics, thus rendering easier the understanding of some political phenomena. Moreover, the opportunity to compare within the same country (that is other things being equal) different ‘regimes’ or, more accurately, the ‘old regime’ in its full strength, the transitional phase of its fall, and the emerging new phase provides a basis for a better understanding of the characteristics of politica11ife. Finally, when the regime of party dominance was in full swing, its strengths were naturally underlined and the control exercised by the parties over all political processes was stressed; the abrupt crisis and breakdown of the regime leads to questions being raised also about its weaknesses.

Still a Difficult Budgetary Process? The Government, the Legislature and the Finance Bill

The so called ‘budget session’ has been the most crucial issue on the Italian parliamentary agenda since the late 1970s, when the annual finance bill was introduced into the political system. Since then, the practice of fiscal governance has been significantly transformed, paving the way for an important phase of budget consolidation throughout the period of convergence to the Economic and Monetary Union. However, the effectiveness of the performance of the budgetary process — and particularly its parliamentary phase — is still under discussion. This article aims to emphasize the changing modes of interaction between the executive and parliamentary branches during the annual budget session. Parliamentary impact on the structure of the annual finance bill and the degree of involvement of the parliamentary opposition during the discussion of budget proposals will be analysed in depth, focusing on the period 1996 to 2005.