Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-dk4vv Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-23T14:45:03.056Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Centrism in Italian politics

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Mark Donovan  and
James L. Newell
Mark Donovan*
Affiliation:
University of Cardiff, UK
James L. Newell
Affiliation:
University of Salford, UK
*
∗Corresponding author. Email: [email protected]
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Recent developments, especially the outcome of the 2008 election, appear to point to the definitive sidelining of centrism in Italian politics. In reality, it remains significant – not least because of the opportunities for influence all bipolar systems give to parties not of the left or right, and because of the possible consequences of reassessments of centrism's historical significance. The term itself has been used to denote a kind of political outlook or ideology and, consequently, a kind of political strategy. A number of party and elite-level strategies called centrist are identified; one of these – transformism – has roots that stretch back at least to the nineteenth century and is not specifically Italian. Transformism has been variously interpreted. Against this background, the articles in this special issue together evaluate the historical importance of centrism and its current significance for Italian politics. As a governing strategy, centrism is practiced differently now than in the past, but it continues to be practiced.

Keywords

CentrismTransformismPolarised pluralismCentripetalismBipolarism
Type
Research Article
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 13 , Issue 4 , November 2008 , pp. 381 - 397
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Absalom, Roger. 1995. Italy since 1800: A nation in the balance . London: Longman.Google Scholar
Amato, Giuliano, Cafagna, Luciano, Colarizi, Simona, De Luna, Giovanni, Follini, Marco, Mieli, Paolo, Rumi, Giorgio, and Tranfaglia, Nicola. 2003. Una tesi condivisa con qualche ‘ma’. Reset 78, no. July–August: 83–6.Google Scholar
Bardi, Luciano. 2007. Electoral change in Italy and its impact on the party system. West European Politics 30: 711–32.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Budge, Ian, Robertson, David, and Hearl, Derek, eds. 1987. Ideology, strategy and party change: Spatial analyses of post-war election programmes in 19 democracies . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cammarano, Fulvio. 1999. Storia politica dell'Italia liberale, 1861–1901 . Rome-Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Cammarano, Fulvio. 2006. Un centrisme, le trasformisme libéral en Italie et en Grande-Bretagne au XIX e siècle . In Centre et centrisme en Europe au XIX e et XX e siècles , ed. Guillaume, Sylvie and Garrigues, Jean. Brussels: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Cardini, Antonio. 1996. Il grande centro. I liberali in una nazione senz stato: Il problema storico dell'arretratezza politica (1796–1996) . Rome: Lacaità.Google Scholar
Carocci, Giampiero, ed. 1992. Il trasformismo dall'Unità ad oggi . Milan, Unicopli.Google Scholar
Bull, Cento, Anna, . 2001. Social and political cultures in Italy from 1860 to the present day. In The Cambridge companion to modern Italian culture , ed. Baranzki, Z.G. and West, R.J.. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Craveri, Pietro. 2003. La Repubblica dal 1958 al 1992 . Milan: TEA.Google Scholar
Duverger, Maurice. 1963. Political parties . New York: John Wiley.Google Scholar
Farneti, Paolo. 1985. The Italian party system . London: Pinter.Google Scholar
Floridia, , Forthcoming, A.. Gulliver unbound. Possible electoral reforms and the 2008 Italian election: Toward an end to ‘fragmented bipolarity?’ Modern Italy 13, no. 3: 317–332.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fontana, Alessandro. 1998 [1983]. Towards a history of transformism, 1883–1983. In Italy , ed. Donovan, Mark. Vol. II. Aldershot: Dartmouth.Google Scholar
Guillaume, Sylvie, and Garrigues, Jean, eds. 2006. Centre et centrisme en Europe au XIXe et XXe siècles . Brussels: Peter Lang.Google Scholar
Hamburger, Joseph. 1987. Macaulay, Thomas Babington. In The Blackwell encyclopaedia of political thought , ed. Miller, D.. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Hine, David. 1993. Governing Italy . Clarendon: Oxford.Google Scholar
Ieraci, Giuseppe. 2007. From polarized pluralism to polarized bipolarism: Parties, governments and policy space in Italy after the 2006 elections. Polena 3: 9–28.Google Scholar
Kurth, James. 1993. A tale of four countries: Parallel politics in Southern Europe, 1815–1900. In Mediterranean paradoxes: The politics and social structures of Southern Europe , ed. Kurth, James, Petras, James and Chilcote, Ronald H.. Oxford: Berg.Google Scholar
Laponce, Jean. 1981. Left and right: A topography of political perceptions . Toronto: University of Toronto Press.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arendt. 1977. Democracy in plural societies: A comparative exploration . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lijphart, Arendt. 1999. Patterns of democracy: Government forms and performance in thirty-six countries . New Haven, CT: Yale University Press.Google Scholar
Lipset, Seymour M., and Rokkan, Stein. 1967. Cleavage structures, party systems and voter alignments: An introduction. In Party systems and voter alignments: Cross-national perspectives , ed. Lipset, S.M. and Rokkan, S.. Toronto: Free Press.Google Scholar
Smith, Mack, Dennis, . 1997. Modern Italy: A political history . London: Yale University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mair, Peter. 1997a. E.E. Schattschneider's The Semisovereign People. Political Studies 45: 947–54.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mair, Peter. 1997b. Party system change: Approaches and interpretations . Oxford: Clarendon Press.Google Scholar
Mair, Peter. 2005. Democracy beyond parties. Paper given at the University of Irvine, California. Available online at: http://repositories.cdlib.org/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1052&context=csd Google Scholar
Mair, Peter. 2008. The challenge to party government. West European Politics 31: 211–34.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Mannheimer, Renato, and Sani, Giacomo. 1999. Ricomposizione del centro e spazio elettorale. In Politica in Italia , ed. Hine, David and Vassallo, Salvatore. Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
McLean, Iain. 2006. The dimensionality of party ideologies. In Democratic politics and party competition , ed. Bara, Judith and Weale, Albert. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Musella, Luigi. 2003. Il trasformismo . Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Nilsson, , Robert, K., and Gilbert, Mark F.. 1999. Historical dictionary of modern Italy . London: Scarecrow Press.Google Scholar
Pasquino, Gianfranco. 2000a. La transizione a parole . Bologna: il Mulino.Google Scholar
Pasquino, Gianfranco. 2000b. New government, old party politics. South European Society and Politics 3, no. 2: 124–33.Google Scholar
Pombeni, Paolo. 1994. Partiti e sistemi politici nella storia contemporanea . Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Rogari, Sandro. 1998. Alle origini del trasformismo. Partiti e sistema politico nell'Italia liberale, 1861–1914 . Rome-Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Sabbatucci, Giovanni. 2003. Il trasformismo come sistema . Rome-Bari: Laterza.Google Scholar
Sabetti, Filippo. 2000. The search for good government: Understanding the paradox of Italian democracy . Montreal/Kingston: McGill-Queen.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Salvadori, Masssimo. 2000. Storia d'Italia e crisi di regime. Saggio sulla politica italiana, 1861–2000 , 3rd ed. Bologna: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Sani, Giacomo, and Sartori, Giovanni. 1978. Polarization, fragmentation and competition in Western democracies. In Western European party systems: Continuity and change , ed. Daalder, Hans and Mair, Peter. London: Sage.Google Scholar
Sartori, Giovanni. 1976. Parties and party systems: A framework for analysis . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Schlesinger, Arthur. 1949. The vital centre . Cambridge, MA: Houghton Mifflin.Google Scholar
Stone, Norman. 1984. ‘Transformism’: The politics of the 1880s. In Europe transformed, 1878–1919 . Glasgow: Fontana.Google Scholar
Togliatti, Palmiro. 1950. Giolitti e la democrazia italiana. In Palmiro Togliatti. Opere , ed. Gruppi, L.. Rome: Riuniti.Google Scholar
Trotsky, Leon. 1934. Two articles on centrism. Class Struggle 4, no. 8. Available online at: http://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/1934/02/centrism.htm Google Scholar
Vander, Fabio. 2004. La democrazia in Italia. Ideologia e storia del trasformismo . Genoa-Milan: Marietti.Google Scholar
Van Loenen, Gerbert. 1990. Weimar or Byzantium: Two opposing approaches to the Italian party system. European Journal of Political Research 18: 241–56.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Vivarelli, Roberto. 1991. Storia delle origini del fascismo . Vol. 2. Rome: Il Mulino.Google Scholar
Von Beyme, Klaus. 1985. Political parties in Western democracies . Aldershot: Dartmouth.Google Scholar