Martin J. Bull

A long quest in vain: institutional reforms in Italy

The perceived need for institutional and constitutional reform has figured prominently in the Italian political debate over the past three decades, yet the outcome has been characterised by continual failure. The most recent failure – the rejection of the centre-rights proposed root and branch overhaul of the Constitution in a referendum held in June 2006 – offers a valuable prism through which to analyse the main institutional deficiencies (as apparently perceived by the political class) of the Italian political system, and the attempt to overcome them in the past 15 years: executive–legislative relations (and notably the powers of the Prime Minister and bicameralism), devolution, and (formally beyond the Constitution but inseparable from its functioning) the electoral system. The decisive rejection of the centre-rights proposals in 2006 increases the dilemma confronting the Italian political system in its quest to secure constitutional reform by precluding certain types and methods of reform while failing to quash aspirations for its achievement amongst politicians and the public.

Europeanization and Italian policy for the Mezzogiorno

The change in Italys main regional policy (for the south) in the course of the 1990s provides a prima facie case of Europeanization tout court for scholars of Europeanization. A new policy was adopted that was evidently inspired by the European regional policy launched in 1988. However, examining Europeanization only from a top-down perspective (in terms of policy outcome) provides a limited insight into the process. A bottom-up approach that evaluates the impact of Europeanization through a temporal dimension of change, integrating the Europeanized and domestic effects, allows a more precise assessment of the degree to which Europeanization may have caused or reinforced a process of change in Italian southern policy.

Introduction - Italy : a contested polity

Ten years after the last special issue of West European Politics dedicated to Italian politics, it is possible to extend and refine the framework used in that issue to document and explain the trajectory of change in Italian politics since the early 1990s. After the crisis at the beginning of that decade, the long period that has followed has been characterised by a process of negotiated change and ‘institutional layering’ which, thus far, has produced an outcome that is far from the expectations generated 15 years ago. The pattern of limited change, moreover, looks set to continue into the foreseeable future.

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.

The Corporatist Ideal‐Type and Political Exchange

The fundamental reason for corporatisms persistence in political science debates is its failure to respond to the demands of political theory and present a convincing ideal-type to capture the relationship between interest groups and the state. Corporatist writers have misused ideal-types and the most refined example to date of the corporatist ideal-type (Cawsons) is structurally flawed. There are more profound problems than this, however, in the construction of a corporatist ideal-type because of the nature of the dynamics at the heart of the corporatist process: political exchange. Every change of paradigm begins with a new exaggeration.1

The West European communist movement in the late twentieth century

This article evaluates the impact of the collapse of communism in Eastern Europe on the West European communist movement. The state of the movement before 1989 is examined, followed by an analysis of the different trajectories of the parties after the revolutions and an assessment of their future prospects. It is argued that the momentous changes of 1989 have witnessed the passing of the West European communist tradition and that, while some communist parties live on, it is no longer fruitful to regard them and the ex‐communist parties as one ‘family’ or to study them under a common framework.

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 Italian transition that never was

The recent argument that the notion of ‘transition’ should be set aside in attempting to explain the trajectory of Italian politics in the past two decades is to be welcomed, but does not go far enough in explaining why we, as Italianists, got our case wrong and how exactly we might get our case right today. The transitional ‘myth’ was born and maintained despite growing evidence of its inherently problematic nature, in both conceptual and empirical terms. The concept of ‘transition’ needs more serious conceptual treatment and empirical application, but even with this work it is unlikely to be concluded that Italy is in transition. Freeing Italy and Italianists from this conventional wisdom, while, at the same time, not abandoning the idea that something exceptional happened to Italian politics in the early 1990s will help enrich the debate on the nature of the political change that Italy has experienced in the past 17 years.

Conclusion: Political Corruption in Contemporary Democracies

In this concluding chapter, we draw on the findings of the 16 preceding chapters to formulate a series of comparative observations and conclusions.

Whatever happened to Italian communism? Explaining the dissolution of the largest communist party in the West

This article attempts to explain why the largest and most successful communist party in the West (the Italian Communist Party) has been the first to dissolve itself under the apparent impact of the revolutions in Eastern Europe. It does so by utilising and comparing four possible approaches to the study of West European Communist parties: ideological, electoral, strategic and ‘internal‐external’ approaches. The first three approaches are outlined and their limitations indicated before a more detailed exposition and application of the fourth approach is made as offering the most adequate framework to explain of one the most significant developments in Italian politics and West European communism.