Marc Lazar

Still a difficult democracy? Italy between populist challenges and institutional weakness

The rise of a powerful populist challenge constituted by the MoVimento Cinque Stelle has undermined the political equilibrium of the last 20 years, while the institutional inertia of the parliamentary system has left the country without alternative tools of government notwithstanding the political stalemate. It was necessary to have recourse to reconfirmation of the incumbent president of the Republic, Giorgio Napolitano, to overcome the obstacles in the way of the formation of a government. Can Italy continue to be jeopardised by the weakness of its parties and the polarisation of their leaderships? Herein resides the puzzle of Italy’s ungovernable democracy.

Francia: i dubbi del presente, i retaggi del passato

Looks at the impact of the different terrorist attacks in France during 2015. In a historical and sociological perspective it defends the idea that these traumatic events revealed a deep crisis of French national identity, characterized by an erosion of the basic points of reference of the French nation. But the author also argues that this is not only a French specificity: the French crisis is part of a more general transformation of European societies which have to deal with new challenges.

The 2013 Italian elections in historical perspective

The Italian General Elections of 24–25 February 2013 are generally considered a historic turning point, marking the end of the so-called Second Republic as well as the dawn of an ambiguous Third Republic. In this study, we address the 2013 campaign, the election results and their political consequences in an historical perspective. After examining the major characteristics of the five elections held since 1994, this paper proposes a systematic comparison of the 1994 and the 2013 ballots in order to highlight the elements of continuity and change. One of the key findings is related to the Italian party system. If in 1994 the country witnessed the beginning of a transition, which was making headway but remained incomplete, in 2013 no new system arose. This may point to an acceleration in the decline of the pre-existing regime.

La gauche et le défi des changements dans les années 70–80. Les cas français et italien

The French and Italian Left and the Challenge of Change in the 1970s and 1980s All over Europe, the crisis of the seventies and eighties fundamentally reshaped the basic conditions of the political Left. Especially the French and Italian left-wing parties experienced identity crises. While they were particularly accustomed to achieving concrete objectives through collective actions, the communist parties in France and in Italy found themselves confronted with a severe economic downturn profound socio-cultural changes. This paper examines the left-wing parties’ plans for responding to this. In Italy, the adaptation to new circumstances did not succeed: The Partito Comunista Italiano PCI and the Partito Socialista Italiano PSI were both brought down, disorganizing the whole Italian party system. In France, the Parti Communiste Français PCF was also condemned to a shadowy existence and only the Parti socialiste survived the crisis. On the one hand, it benefitted from the trend toward presidentialization of the French political system – in the person of François Mitterrand. On the other hand, it benefitted from the partys strong local roots in towns and regions.

Les partis communistes Italien et Français et l'après-Staline

The Italian and French Communist parties and the post-Stalin era, Marc Lazar ; The article deals a hitherto unpublished document, recently found in Italian archives : the report Pietro Secchia made on returning from Moscow in July 1953. The Soviets had admitted to him, four months after Stalins death, that there had been in the URSS a « personality cuit » and a « deviation from Leninist principles ». The author underscores the impact of this secret revelation on the party of Thorez and that of Togliatti, three years before the famous Khrushchev report to the 20th Congress.