Bull, MJ and Rhodes, M 2007, 'Introduction - Italy: A contested polity' , West European Politics, 30 (4) , pp. 1-13.

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Abstract

As is now well understood from recent advances in historical institutionalism, change in complex political systems usually occurs either by way of 'punctuated equilibrium', in which long periods of stability in a political system are interrupted by sudden, and sometimes dramatic, shifts, before path-dependent development resumes; or via multiple processes that modify the nature of the existing order but only rarely overturn it. The equilibrium of Italy's post-war system was clearly 'punctuated' by the political and economic upheavals of the early and mid-1990s. But what followed was less a transition to something new, and more a post-crisis process of institutional (re-)stabilisation and negotiated change in which the 'new' (or at least substantial parts of it) looks remarkably similar to the 'old'.

Item Type:	Article
Uncontrolled Keywords:	Italy; contemporary political change
Themes:	Subjects outside of the University Themes
Schools:	Colleges and Schools > College of Arts & Social Sciences > School of Humanities, Languages & Social Sciences > Centre for Democracy and Human Rights
Journal or Publication Title:	West European Politics
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Refereed:	Yes
ISSN:	0140-2382
Depositing User:	Professor Martin J. Bull
Date Deposited:	20 Oct 2011 14:47
Last Modified:	20 Oct 2011 14:47
URI:	http://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/18561

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