Published online by Cambridge University Press: 17 July 2018
Molti partiti riformisti nella storia di Francia ed Inghilterra, i vecchi partiti agrari nella Scandinavia del dopoguerra ed alcuni nuovi partiti delle riemergenti democrazie, sia nell'Europa meridionale che in quella orientale, si sono etichettati come partiti «di centro». Ma si tratta di veri partiti di centro? E se questo è vero, a che tipo di partito di centro appartengono?
The concept of center parties has been stretched so far that it can no longer serve as a defining feature. The multiplication of center parties, and the migration of other parties towards the center, has left the academic literature without the proper methodological tools to identify, define, and classify and increasing amount of the parties in most party systems today. The author proposes a delineation of the concept, divorcing between ideological center parties and spatial middle parties. Related terms such as center label parties, median parties adn pivotal parties are addressed in presenting a new conceptualization and classification of the center and center parties. Examples of each type are presented based on a discussion of the post-war Italian party system.