Nicolò Conti

The Emergence of a New Party in the Italian Party System: Rise and Fortunes of the Five Star Movement

This article examines the fortunes of the recently created Five Star Movement, a party that at its first general election in February 2013 became the most voted for party in Italy. It explains the success of this new party through citizens’ demands, patterns of party competition and institutional rules. Building on the interplay between popular demands and party supply, the study examines the overall political stance of this party and how it fits the policy priorities of citizens. By comparing it with other parties, the article investigates how the Five Star Movement distinguished itself from its competitors. Finally, the article examines how the electoral system has limited its emergence.

Southern Europe: a Distinctive and More Pro-European Region in the EU?

The main aim of this article is to show to what extent it is possible to talk about the South European member states as a homogeneous region with respect to the topics of European citizenship addressed in this special issue. In particular, we will address this problem by exploring both the level of homogeneity of the attitudes developed by national elites within this area, and the level of distinctiveness of such attitudes compared with the pan-European trend.

The Italian parties and their programmatic platforms: How alternative?

In the last decade, in spite of a large number of parties taking part in elections, the Italian party system has shown an increasing simplification in the programmatic supply, with two large coalitions showing a process of convergence of their policy platforms. This article shows that on the crucial themes characterising the confrontation between neo-liberalism versus regulated capitalism, the distance between the two coalitions has progressively reduced. The theory of the cartel party has predicted convergence in the policy positions of parties. Thus, the article will attempt to test the validity of this theory and of the predicted consequences on the Italian case. For this purpose, a longitudinal analysis will be presented grounded on party manifestos for the Italian general elections.

In the Name of the People: The Euroscepticism of the Italian Radical Right

Abstract In this article, we analyse Euroscepticism as a common trait of current radical right-wing formations. Public opinion in Italy has become increasingly polarized on the issue of European integration, and largely Eurosceptic. Thus, it is relevant to understand whether there is an ideological opposition to the European Union (EU) in Italy, both inside and outside the Parliament, which, in the future, could capture the malaise of the citizens and grow within the political system. Particularly, we explore differences and similarities between the parliamentary and the extra-parliamentary right. We show that the ways in which they perceive and (negatively) represent the EU through frames is strikingly similar, despite the fact that these organizations do not really cooperate and are even in competition with each other. Ultimately, despite many factors being mature for issue mobilization and the creation of an EU cleavage in Italy, the success of this process largely depends on the ability of the radical right organizations to come to terms with their ideological background, give priority to this emerging cleavage and establish more synergies with each other.

European Citizenship in Party Euromanifestos: Southern Europe in Comparative Perspective (1994–2004)

The aim of the paper is to analyse party attitudes towards the European Union (EU) and the issue of citizenship as voiced by the party central office in the official programmatic platforms. For this purpose, Euromanifestos have been coded by applying the common framework of the IntUne project. Accordingly, the article attempts to assess the degree of convergence between the attitudes of both the party central office and the MPs towards the EU in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain. The article attempts as well to assess the validity of the main theoretical arguments available in the literature that explain these attitudes.

Tied hands? Italian political parties and Europe

Italian political parties have been involved for almost three decades in a multi-level electoral game encompassing the election of national, supranational and local institutions. The content of the electoral competition has also changed to include not only nationwide, but also sub-national and supranational issues. This article analyses the interaction between Italian parties and the theme of European integration. The aim is to explore the role of contentious European Union matters in domestic electoral competition, specifically at the time of European elections. Such a role is important to understand to what extent the Italian parties politicise the EU issues during EP elections, and to determine the impact of such issues on the Italian party system and on its patterns of policy competition. In particular, the article will explore whether Europe as an issue has been internalised along the main patterns of party competition or has produced a disruptive effect and forms of realignment.

On political fragmentation: stay in or stay out? The role of small parties in the Italian centre–left

Abstract During its activity, the Centre–Left coalition that won the elections of 2006 showed clear signs of being a very diverse body of interests and political orientations. This paper aims to explore the nature and the role of small parties within this coalition. The organizational nature of these parties will be analysed – are they conventional parties, electoral parties, partiti personali or others? – and also how these parties fit the ‘cleavage’ structure of the Italian society. The analysis will then focus on their behaviour within the electoral institutions: are they office-seekers, policy maximizers or something different? Finally, recent developments in the centre–left and their potential impact on small parties will be discussed.

The Italian political elites and Europe: Big move, small change?

This article examines the attitudes of national political elites towards the EU and the recent politicisation of Europe in the Italian party system. Italian political elites have experienced some important transformations in the recent past as a consequence of the emergence of new parties, the re-alignment of other established parties and some structural transformations in their socio-demographic traits. This article shows that positive feelings towards the EU have survived the acute change to the composition of the political elites, and that support for Europe is still widespread. Variations are mainly differences in degree of support. Although opposition to the EU has emerged, this has not occurred in a linear way and remains dispersed, while a Eurosceptic camp able to challenge the mainstream pro-European conduct of the Italian elites is far from being in place.

New parties and the transformation of the Italian political space

This article presents an analysis of the programmatic supply and ideological positioning of parties in the general election of 2013. The Italian party system went through format simplification through a reduction in the number of party units after the creation of the two large parties, PD and the PdL, but the erosion of their vote and the corresponding breakthrough of the large anti-system party, the Five Star Movement, have reversed the previous tendency towards increased fragmentation. My main goal is to understand whether, after the emergence of new parties on the political scene, the national political space has changed not only in terms of format, but also of mechanics. In particular, this article explores whether new dimensions of party competition have arisen and whether the ideological positioning of parties has consequently been affected. I show that after 2013 the Italian party system was ideologically more polarised and multidimensional than in the past as new issue dimensions emerged and traditional ones acquired new meaning.

National political elites, the EU, and the populist challenge:

For several years, the European Union (EU) has faced two major crises at the same time – a global financial crisis that spilled over to the Eurozone countries and an immigration crisis. Those countries more negatively affected complain that the EU is ineffective in providing solutions, while better-off countries are reluctant to share the costs of the most exposed countries. In this critical context, radical populist parties have had specific incentives to offer extreme policy stances on the EU, signalling clear Eurosceptical positions as a means of breaking into the electoral market; their stance is now represented in the national parliament of many member states. The article examines the attitudes of national political elites towards the EU. It shows that the feelings towards the EU have largely survived acute changes (induced by the crises or changes to elite composition). Although Euroscepticism is a growing phenomenon within society and party systems, it is less on the rise among the elites holding public office. However, due to the unprecedented success of radical populist parties in some countries, Euroscepticism is now on the rise, also among this segment of elites, and some limited signs of contagion to the mainstream are already visible.