Italy - A Contested Polity
Italy - A Contested Polity

Author: Martin Bull

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-10-31

Total Pages: 343

ISBN-13: 1317968085

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Despite the promise of the new "Second Republic" launched in the early 1990s, Italy remains Europe’s least well-governed country. Fifteen years ago, politicians on the take and mafiosi on the make were supposedly pushed aside by a new generation of reformers and crusading magistrates. However, in this new book a team of leading experts on Italy uncovers little real progress. Badly needed reforms have foundered on bickering between the parties and their ego-centric 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 shambolic, and decades of periodic devaluation and deficit spending have left the economy structurally weakened. Italy’s politicians are not just masters of trasformismo (an ability to reinvent and present themselves anew to voters), but of stratificazione, or "layering", the introduction of new policies and institutions without replacing those that preceded them. The result is a damaging mix of obsolete and contradictory legislation, the product of bargaining over reform by chronically weak governments in a veto-ridden polity. The outcome – immobilismo – is a system in which all parties, and democratic government itself, are steadily losing legitimacy. This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

The Age of Rights
The Age of Rights

Author: Norberto Bobbio

Publisher: John Wiley & Sons

Published: 2017-06-12

Total Pages: 192

ISBN-13: 1509526137

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This book presents a valuable clarification and defence of human rights by Italy's leading political theorist.

Italian Politics
Italian Politics

Author: Martin J. Bull

Publisher: Polity

Published: 2005

Total Pages: 277

ISBN-13: 0745612989

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This wide-ranging book seeks to unravel the complexities of post-1992 Italian democracy. It takes as its point of departure the dramatic political tensions of the early 1990s and evaluates these against the background of an analysis of the ‘First Republic’ that predates these changes. Martin Bull and James Newell, renowned scholars of Italian Politics, argue that the early 1990s revolution in Italian party politics should be seen both as a major cause of subsequent changes in the political system and as a consequence of longer-term, still on-going changes in the Italian polity. The books explains how we can understand in this light the mixed success of the parties in attempting to act as autonomous vehicles of reform – and therefore why, if we are witnessing a transformation to a ‘Second Republic’, many of its key features still remain to be shaped. Each of the thematic chapters clearly juxtaposes Italy as it was before the 1990s with Italy today, thereby evaluating the degree to which the early 1990s can be seen as a watershed. In this way the book offers a novel account of both contemporary political developments and their historical significance in teh context of the ‘Italian political model’ that took shape in the period after 1945. This will be essential reading for all students of Italian and Comparative Politics, who will find the clarity and breadth of the book invaluable. Equally, scholars will be fascinated by this new and compelling argument.

Italy Transformed
Italy Transformed

Author: Martin Bull

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-06-09

Total Pages: 233

ISBN-13: 0429686277

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The decade commencing with the great crash of 2008 was a watershed period for Italian politics, involving fundamental and dramatic changes, many of which had not been anticipated and which are charted in this book. This comprehensive volume covers the impact of the Eurozone crisis on the Italian economy and its relationship with the European Union, the dramatic changes in the political parties (and particularly the rise of a new political force, the Five Star Movement, which became the largest political party in 2013), the changing role of the Trade Unions in the lives of Italian citizens, the Italian migration crisis, electoral reforms and their impact on the Italian party system (where trends towards bipolarisation appear to be exhausted), the rise of new forms of social protest, changes to political culture and social capital and, finally, amidst the crisis, reforms to the welfare state. Overall, the authors reveal a country, which many had assumed was in quiet transition towards a more stable democracy, that suffers an immense shock from the Eurozone crisis and bringing to the fore deep-rooted structural problems which have changed the dynamics of its politics, as confirmed in the outcome to the 2018 National Elections. This book was originally published as a special issue of South European Society and Politics.

Italy Today
Italy Today

Author: Andrea Mammone

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2010-02-25

Total Pages: 278

ISBN-13: 1135164940

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Offers an analyses of contemporary Italy. This book contains essays that aim to highlight the 'crisis' of the country.

The Politics of Work-Family Policy Reforms in Germany and Italy
The Politics of Work-Family Policy Reforms in Germany and Italy

Author: Agnes Blome

Publisher: Taylor & Francis

Published: 2016-11-25

Total Pages: 270

ISBN-13: 131755437X

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One of the fundamental challenges facing modern welfare states is the question of work-family reconciliation. An increasing share of mothers work, but many European welfare states do not adequately support the dual-earner model, especially in southern Europe. After 2005, German policy-makers transformed the nature of Germany’s family policy regime through a number of legislative measures, whilst Italy, a country with many similarities, witnessed little change. Using a multi-methods approach, this book addresses the puzzle of why Germany was able to implement far-reaching reforms in this policy area after a long impasse and Italy was not. As such, it delivers a broad, systematic account of these reforms and sheds light on why similar reforms were not also adopted in other similar welfare states at the same time. More generally, it contributes to understanding the determinants of welfare policy change in modern European welfare states. This text will be of key interest to scholars, students and professionals working on topics linked to European politics, welfare and work-family policies, comparative politics, social policy, and more broadly to political science and gender studies.

After Lisbon: National Parliaments in the European Union
After Lisbon: National Parliaments in the European Union

Author: Katrin Auel

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2017-10-02

Total Pages: 179

ISBN-13: 1317380843

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The role of national parliaments in EU matters has become an important subject in the debate over the democratic legitimacy of European Union decision-making. Strengthening parliamentary scrutiny and participation rights at both the domestic and the European level is often seen as an effective measure to address the perceived ‘democratic deficit’ of the EU – the reason for affording them a prominent place in the newly introduced ‘Provisions on Democratic Principles’ of the Union (in particular Article 12 TEU). Whether this aim can be met, however, depends crucially on the degree to which, and the manner in which, national parliaments actually make use of their institutional rights. This volume therefore aims at providing a comprehensive overview of the activities of national parliaments in the post-Lisbon Treaty era. This includes the ‘classic’ scrutiny of EU legislation, but also parliamentary involvement in EU foreign policy, the use of new parliamentary participation rights of the Lisbon Treaty (Early Warning System), their role regarding the EU’s response to the Eurozone crisis, and the, so far under-researched, role of parliamentary administrators in scrutiny processes. This book was originally published as a special issue of West European Politics.

Dynamics of Change in the European Union
Dynamics of Change in the European Union

Author: Daniel Naurin

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2013-09-13

Total Pages: 243

ISBN-13: 113571391X

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Agreements concerning inter-institutional rules in the treaties of the European Union often give rise to reactions and processes of adaptation within the EU institutions. Recent literature on EU legislative politics has increasingly examined decision-making within the EU institutions, but has largely overlooked how these internal processes react and adapt to changes in relations between the EU bodies. To fill this gap the authors present a series of empirical studies that examine how shifts in inter-institutional rules and procedures affect intra-institutional politics. They show that the resulting intrainstitutional adaptations may in turn both have distributive consequences and affect the efficiency of the initial inter-institutional reforms. In addition, they provide some stepping stones for theory-building on how treaty reforms affect organizational structure and decision-making within the EU institutions by outlining a series of mediating variables that link these two types of change processes. This book was originally published as a special issue of West European Politics.

Understanding Electoral Reform
Understanding Electoral Reform

Author: Reuven Y. Hazan

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2014-06-03

Total Pages: 282

ISBN-13: 1317978919

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The field of elections and electoral systems, and particularly electoral reform, has exhibited tremendous growth and cross-national appeal over the last two decades. However, beyond an increased knowledge of voting rules and their consequences for political representation, little attention has been devoted to the question of why electoral systems have recently undergone substantial change in several liberal democracies. This book addresses several new approaches to electoral reform. First, the scope of the study of electoral reform has been expanded. Second, contrary to previous studies of electoral reform, the conviction that the determinants of reform can be explained by one single approach has been replaced by a belief in a more comprehensive framework for analysis. Third, we move beyond political parties (acting in parliament and government) as the most significant source of electoral reform. Fourth, a focus on the determinants of electoral reform allows us to include motivations and objectives of electoral reform. A final advancement in the study of electoral reform is the inclusion of countries other than ‘established’ democracies. This book was published as a special issue of West European Politics.

From Europeanisation to Diffusion
From Europeanisation to Diffusion

Author: Tanja A. Borzel

Publisher: Routledge

Published: 2020-11-25

Total Pages: 230

ISBN-13: 1000112616

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This book provides a comprehensive account of the extent to which policies and institutions of the European Union (EU) spread across different contexts. Are the EU’s attempts to transfer its policies and institutions to accession and neighbourhood countries sustainable and effective? To what degree do other regions of the world emulate the EU’s institutional features, what are the mechanisms of, and conditions for, their diffusion? Chapters deal with Europeanization in the new EU member states, particularly in Romania and Bulgaria, in current accession candidates, i.e. the Western Balkans and Turkey, as well the Eastern (Southern Caucasus) and Southern Neighbourhood (Israel and the Maghreb). In addition, authors investigate the diffusion of EU policies and institutions in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia, and Latin America. The authors place Europeanization studies in the wider context of research on transnational diffusion, and examine the relevant mechanisms and processes, including incentives and capacity-building, socialization and learning as well as functional and normative emulation. Finally, the book discusses what conditions lead to the successful diffusion of European institutions and policies, such as domestic incentives, degrees of (limited) statehood, regime type, and power (a)symmetries. This book was originally published as a special issue of West European Politics.