To cite this article:
Emanuele, V. and Chiaramonte, A. (2020), ‘Going out of the ordinary. The de-institutionalization of the Italian party system in comparative perspective’, Contemporary Italian Politics.
Abstract
Since 2013, the Italian party system has been in turmoil as the old bipolar structure has been swept away by the emergence of new competitors and skyrocketing voter volatility. Instead of being characterized by stabilization, the 2018 general election continued to show turmoil, with a substantial shift in the balance of power among parties and electoral poles. This article tests the hypothesis that since 2013 Italy has been experiencing a process of party systemde-institutionalization, meaning a context in which the interactions of inter-party competition remain unstable and unpredictable over time. To do so, it analyses the patterns of stability and predictability in the three arenas (electoral, parliamentary and governmental) where inter-party competition can be detected, adopting a twofold comparative perspective: a diachronic perspective comparing the 2013–2018 period with the previous Italian republican era; a cross-national perspective (using an original dataset covering 372 elections and legislatures, and 670 governments) comparing Italy since the War with the corresponding period in nineteen other Western European countries. The article paints a rather clear picture: in the period following the 2013 elections the Italian party system is de-institutionalized like very few others in Western Europe’s post-1945 history.
Vincenzo Emanuele
Vincenzo Emanuele è professore associato in Scienza Politica presso la LUISS Guido Carli di Roma. Ha conseguito il dottorato di ricerca in Scienza della Politica presso la Scuola Normale Superiore (ex SUM) di Firenze con una tesi sul processo di nazionalizzazione del voto in Europa occidentale e le sue possibili determinanti. La sua tesi ha vinto il Premio ‘Enrico Melchionda’ conferita alle tesi di dottorato in Scienze Politiche discusse nel triennio 2012-2014 e il Premio ‘Celso Ghini’ come miglior tesi di dottorato in materia elettorale del biennio 2013-2014. È membro del CISE, di ITANES (Italian National Election Studies) e del Research Network in Political Parties, Party Systems and Elections del CES (Council of European Studies). I suoi interessi di ricerca si concentrano sulle elezioni e i sistemi di partito in prospettiva comparata, con particolare riferimento ai cleavages e ai processi di nazionalizzazione e istituzionalizzazione. Ha pubblicato articoli su European Journal of Political Studies, Comparative Political Studies, Party Politics, South European Society and Politics, Government and Opposition, Regional and Federal Studies, Journal of Contemporary European, oltre che sulle principali riviste scientifiche italiane. La sua prima monografia Cleavages, institutions, and competition. Understanding vote nationalization in Western Europe (1965-2015) è edita da Rowman and Littlefield/ECPR Press (2018), mentre la seconda The deinstitutionalization of Western European party systems è edita da Palgrave Macmillan. Sulle elezioni italiane del 2018, ha curato la Special Issue di Italian Political Science ‘Who’s the winner? An analysis of the 2018 Italian general election’. Clicca qui per accedere sito internet personale. Clicca qui per accedere al profilo su IRIS.
