Italy - A contested polity

Bull, MJ ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2612-3183 and Rhodes, M, (eds.) 2009, Italy - A contested polity , West European Politics Series , Routledge, Abingdon & New York.

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Abstract

Despite the promise of the so-called 'Second Republic' in the early 1990s, Italy remains one of Europe's least well-governed countries. Optimistic expectations were generated in the early 1990s by an apparently new generation of reformers. However, this book, analysing in depth a range of sectors of the Italian polity, uncovers little real progress. Badly needed reforms have foundered on bickering between the political parties and their leaders. Both left and right-wing coalitions have been guilty of impeding the anti-corruption revolution. Little has been done to improve the quality of public expenditure: infrastructure and education systems remain poorly performing, and years of periodic devaluation and deficit spending have left the economy structurally weakened. Italian politics suffers in particular from 'stratificazione' or 'layering': the introduction of new policies and institutions without removing those they are replacing. The result is a damaging mix of obsolete and contradictory legislation, the product of bargaining over reform by weak governments in a veto-ridden polity. The outcome - 'immobolismo' - is a system in which all parties, and democratic government itself, are steadily losing legitimacy. This book brings together a range of Italian specialists who analyse different sectors of the Italy polity and what has changed in the past decade or so.

Item Type:	Book
Editors:	Bull, MJ and Rhodes, M
Contributors:	Bull, MJ, Rhodes, M, Pasquino, G, Vassallo, S, Bardi, L, Diamanti, I, De Cecco, M, Culpepper, P, Molina, O, Della Porta, D, Vannucci, A, Paoli, L, Hibberd, M, Carbone, M, Quaglia, L and Radaelli, C
Additional Information:	This is a book version of a Special Issue of West European Politics (Vol. 30, No. 4, September 2007) under the same title, 'Italy - A Contested Polity'
Themes:	Subjects outside of the University Themes
Schools:	Schools > School of Humanities, Languages & Social Sciences > Centre for Democracy and Human Rights
Publisher:	Routledge
Refereed:	Yes
Series Name:	West European Politics Series
ISBN:	9780415472647
Depositing User:	Professor Martin J. Bull
Date Deposited:	15 Feb 2012 10:05
Last Modified:	27 Aug 2021 22:52
URI:	https://usir.salford.ac.uk/id/eprint/19520

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