The Politics of Italy: Governance in a Normal Country

416 Pages·2010·9.533 MB·English

by  James L. Newell

ThePoliticsofItaly
ThisinnovativetextoffersacompletelyfreshapproachtoItalian
politicsbyplacingitinitshistorical,institutional,socialand
internationalcontexts.Studentswillgettogripswiththetheoriesand
conceptsofcomparativepoliticsandhowtheyapplyspecificallyto
Italy,whilegainingrealinsightintomorecontroversialtopicssuchas
theMafia,corruptionandthestrikingsuccessofBerlusconi.The
textbookusesclearandsimplelanguagetoanalysecriticallyItaly’s
institutions,itspoliticalculture,partiesandinterestgroups,public
policy,anditsplaceintheinternationalsystem.Oftenregardedasan
anomaly,Italyisfrequentlydescribedintermsof‘crisis’,‘instability’
and‘alienation’.Scepticaloftheseconventionalaccounts,Newell
arguesthat,ifunderstoodinitsownterms,theItalianpoliticalsystem
isjustaseffectiveasotherestablisheddemocracies.Withfeatures
includingtextboxesandfurtherreadingsuggestions,thisisan
unbeatableintroductiontothepoliticsofItaly.
JAMES L. NEWELL isProfessorofPoliticsintheSchoolofEnglish,
Sociology,PoliticsandContemporaryHistoryattheUniversityof
Salford.HeistheauthorofItalianPolitics:AdjustmentunderDuress(with
MartinBull,2005)andPartiesandDemocracyinItaly(2000),aswellas
numerousjournalarticlesandbookchaptersonItalianpolitics.
CAMBRIDGE TEXTBOOKS IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS
SeriesEditors
JanW.VanDeth,Universita¨tMannheim,Germany
KennethNewton,UniversityofSouthampton,UnitedKingdom
Comparativeresearchiscentraltothestudyofpolitics.Thisseries
offersaccessiblebutsophisticatedmaterialsforstudentsof
comparativepoliticsattheintroductorylevelandbeyond.Itcomprises
anauthoritativeintroductorytextbook,FoundationsofComparative
Politics,accompaniedbyvolumesdevotedtothepoliticsofindividual
countries,andanintroductiontomethodologyincomparativepolitics.
Thebooksshareacommonstructureandapproach,allowingteachers
tochoosecombinationsofvolumestosuittheirparticularcourse.The
volumesarealsosuitableforuseindependentofoneother.Attractively
designedandaccessiblywritten,thisseriesprovidesanup-to-dateand
flexibleteachingresource.
Otherbooksinthisseries:
RICHARD GUNTHER & JOSE´ RAMO´N MONTERO
ThePoliticsofSpain
KENNETH NEWTON & JAN W. VAN DETH
FoundationsofComparativePolitics
The Politics
of Italy
Governance in a Normal Country
JAMES L. NEWELL
CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY PRESS
Cambridge,NewYork,Melbourne,Madrid,CapeTown,Singapore,
Sa˜oPaulo,Delhi,Dubai,Tokyo
CambridgeUniversityPress
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PublishedintheUnitedStatesofAmericabyCambridgeUniversityPress,NewYork
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©JamesL.Newell2010
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Firstpublished2010
PrintedintheUnitedKingdomattheUniversityPress,Cambridge
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ISBN978-0-521-84070-5Hardback
ISBN978-0-521-60046-0Paperback
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Contents
Listoffigures pagevii
Listofmaps viii
Listoftables ix
Listofboxes xi
Acknowledgements xiii
Listofabbreviations xiv
Chronology xvii
Introduction 1
I
Historicalbackground 7
1 History 9
II
Thepolity:structuresandinstitutionsoftheregime 47
2 Theconstitutionalframework 49
3 Multi-levelgovernment 79
4 Policy-makingandpolicyimplementation:executives,
legislaturesandbureaucrats 108
III
Politics:citizens,elitesandinterestmediation 143
5 Politicalcultureandbehaviour 145
6 Interestsandinterestmediation:voluntaryassociations
andpressuregroups 179
7 Elections,votingandpoliticalparties 210
v
Contents
IV
Policiesandperformances 251
8 Economicpolicy 253
9 Welfareandrights 283
10 Foreignpolicy 318
Appendix:TheelectoralsystemfortheChamberofDeputiesandtheSenate 352
References 358
Index 373
vi
Figures
1.1 GiuseppeGaribaldi©MaryEvansPictureLibrary/Alamy page10
1.2 BenitoMussolini©Bettmann/CORBIS 21
2.1 InteriorofthePalazzodiMontecitorio©AraldodeLuca/CORBIS 51
5.1 AltaredellaPatria,MonumentofVittorioEmanueleII,Rome©
Images&Stories/Alamy 154
5.2 SceneofGiovanniFalcone’smurder©AlbertoPizzoli/Sygma/
Corbis 168
(Box6.3) NumberofmembersofItalianpoliticalparties,1945–2000 192
6.1 TheRedBrigades’KidnappingPhotoofAldoMoro©ARCHVIO/
ANSA/Corbis 201
7.1 Votebygeographicalarea(Chamberproportionalvote2001) 230
7.2 Turnoutatgeneralelectionsintwelvedemocracies 235
8.1 GrowthofGDPinItalyascomparedtogrowthratesofprincipal
competitors 255
(Box8.2) Italianlireandeurobanknotes©Corbis/SuperStockand©
Prisma/SuperStock 268
9.1 Percentageoffamiliesinrelativepovertybygeographicalarea,
2003–2007 289
9.2 At-risk-of-povertyrateaftersocialtransfers,EU-252003 289
10.1 Percent‘for’‘Onecommonforeignpolicyamongthemember
statesoftheEuropeanUnion’ 341
vii
Maps
1 Italianregionsandmajorcities pagexxix
2 TheItalianstatesatthetimeoftheTreatyofVienna,1815 12
3 TheItalianempirein1940 323
viii
Tables
1.1 Governmentsofthedemocratictransition,1943–1948 page22
1.2 Governmentsofthefirstrepublicanperiod,1948–1994 29
1.3 Governmentsofthesecondrepublicanperiod,1994–2008 38
3.1 MunicipalitiesinItaly 92
3.2 CompositionoftheItalianGovernment,December2008 97
4.1 Successrateofgovernmentbills 118
4.2 Oversightactivityandlawsofdelegation 119
4.3 MinistriesoftheItalianRepublic 133
4.4 PrincipalindependentadministrativeauthoritiesinItaly 136
6.1 Densityoftradeunionmembership,1995 187
6.2 Left–rightself-placementandchurchattendanceinItaly,2001 206
7.1 PoliticalparticipationinItaly,2001 211
7.2 TheChamberofDeputiesElectionsof2001 214
7.3 EuropeanParliamentelections,2004 224
7.4 Votebygeographicalarea(Chamberproportionalvote),2001 230
7.5 Religiousobservanceandpartysupport,1992and2001 233
7.6 Valueprioritiesandleft–rightself-placement,1994 237
7.7 Electionresults,ChamberofDeputies,2006 238
7.8 Voteflows1996–2001(Chamberpluralityarena)and2001–2006 239
7.9 ChamberofDeputieselectionresults,2006and2008 244
7.10 Compositionoftheparliamentarygroups,ChamberofDeputies
andSenate,2008 246
8.1 Valueaddedofmanufacturingsectors(aspercentageoftotal)for
variouscountries,1999 258
8.2 Economicdecline?Keyindicators1971–2005 260
8.3 Ratesofpopulationgrowth,fertility,andGDPpercapita,
1971–2005 260
8.4 Italycomparedwithmajorcompetitorsonarangeofeconomic
indicators,2006 261
8.5 Governmentdebt,educationandsizeofenterprises:Italy
comparedwithmajorcompetitors 263
8.6 Componentsofpublicexpenditure,2001–2005 272
8.7 Proportionofpopulationover65,andemploymentrates:Italy
comparedwithmajorcompetitors 274
ix