Michelangelo Vercesi
Italy is unmatched in Western Europe in the scale of its electoral support for populists. Michelangelo Vercesi argues that this exceptionality, combined with the strategic adaptation of political entrepreneurs to different territorial political traditions, is a legacy of how the unitary state formed Read more
Daniele Albertazzi
Mario Draghi’s new government enjoys broad support in both Italian parliamentary chambers. But Matteo Salvini's League is likely to make its life difficult. Daniele Albertazzi and Davide Pellegrino speculate that Salvini’s party will likely keep one foot in and one foot out of government Read more
Martin Bull
The Italian President’s invitation to Mario Draghi to form the next government is the fourth time since 1994 that the country has resorted to a technician to get itself out of a hole dug by the parties’ failure to agree on a political government, writes Martin Bull. This has connotations that go beyond the current crisis, representing a damning indictment of Italy’s model of party government Read more
Luciano Bardi
Italians have voted in favour of a populist proposal to reduce, quite drastically, the number of parliamentarians. The result of this referendum was never seriously in doubt, writes Luciano Bardi, yet its ramifications raise fundamental questions about the democratic health of Italy’s political system – and whether it can ever be reformed Read more
