Some democracies have been identified as ‘difficult’, that is having to cope with extreme ideological polarisation rendering government alternation impossible, at least in the short- and medium-run. This module examines the challenges of such systems taking as a case study the Republic of Italy. It considers the transition to, and consolidation of democracy in that country, how elites coped with the country being a case of ‘difficult democracy’, and whether and (if so why) the country has remained a difficult democracy since the 1990s, despite the old extremist ideologies (neo-Fascism and Communism) having lost their mobilising powers. In the contemporary period it will consider the crisis of party democracy and the resort to ‘technocratic government’.

On successful completion of the module a student will be able to demonstrate a critical understanding of:

·    the structure and practices of the Italian political system with particular reference to the consolidation of a ‘difficult’ democracy and the protracted crisis of the Italian state at the end of the twentieth and beginning of the twenty-first centuries

·    the relevance to these developments of party system structure, and of different political traditions, including Communism, Fascism, Christian Democracy, Liberalism, Social Democracy, populism and regional-nationalism;

·    the clichés concerning Italian government and politics;

·    the controversies surrounding the so-called ‘Second Republic’, including the role of Silvio Berlusconi; the alleged shift from a polarised and/or consensual democracy to a majoritarian democracy; the failure of party government and the resort to technocrats.

Teaching will be by lecture, seminar and feedback on assessed course work.

Lectures will provide students with introductory empirical information about Italian politics and government and introduce key analytical paradigms used to debate and understand Italian politics and government. Analytical paradigms considered: the transition to and consolidation of democracy; the nature of ‘polarised pluralism’ in which governments are made around the centre of the party political spectrum with oppositions on left and right; the challenges of shifting to a model of alternating, or ‘majoritarian’ democracy.

Seminars provide students the opportunity to ensure they have understood key issues and concepts by seeing how they can be applied to the examination of particular circumstances in the Italian case.

Course-work feedback will enable students to gauge their progress during the module in both substantive issues raised and in terms of relative, summative performance.

Academic and employability skills:

• Reading: in terms of the ability critically to assimilate new arguments and empirical data; that is, higher level ‘comprehension’.

• Writing: understood as a purposive craft whose relevant format is ‘exposition’ designed to demonstrate the ability to apply analytical skills in order to construct persuasive argument.

• Reflexivity: awareness of the significance of arguments and evidence deployed in oral and written discussion and argument.

Assessment is by course work (review), which is both formative and summative, and summative examination.

The review provides students with the opportunity to study a key text in depth and to demonstrate: knowledge and understanding of that text and in particular of the importance/significance of its arguments (i.e. reflexivity); their ability critically to analyse that text; their ability to make persuasive argument (founded on evidence, logic and accurate referencing); their lucidity of style in order to meet the word-length constraint which requires both concision and clarity.

The examination provides an opportunity for students to demonstrate their knowledge and understanding of key issues in the understanding of democratic government and to demonstrate their ability to make persuasive arguments about them, operating under a time constraint and without access to digital or other reference media.
 

·         The ‘difficult democracy’ type: ‘polarised pluralism’ and its cases

·         Party systems as a structure and sub-system of political systems

·         Consensus, consociational and majoritarian democracy

·         The transition to, and consolidation of democracy in Italy

·         Italy’s socialisms

·         Political Catholicism in Italy

·         Liberalism in Italy

·         Italian neo-Fascism

·         Populism in Italy

·         Italian regionalism

Bardi, L. and P. Mair (2008). The Parameters of Party Systems,  Party Politics, 14: 147-166.

Cotta, M. & L. Verzichelli (2007). Political Institutions in Italy, Oxford, Oxford University Press..

D’Alimonte, R. (2005). Italy: A Case of Fragmented Bipolarism, pp. 253-77 in M. Gallagher and P. Mitchell (eds), The Politics of Electoral Systems, Oxford scholarship on line.

Farneti, Paolo (1985). The Italian Party System, London, Pinter.

Hanning, J. (1984). Twenty Years of ‘Polarised Pluralism’, European Journal of Political Research, 12:  433-443.  Also in: Donovan, M. (1990) (ed.) Italy, vol.1, pp.151-161, Aldershot, Gower.

Hine, D. (1990). The Consolidation of Democracy in Post-war Italy, in G. Pridham (ed.), Securing Democracy, Routledge.

Katz, R. S. and William J. Crotty (eds), Handbook of Party Politics, London, Sage.

Morlino, L. (2009). Transition from Democracy to Democracy: Is It Possible in Italy?, Bulletin of Italian Politics, 1, 1: 7-27.

Newell, J. (2010).  Left, Radical Left, Anti-Politics, and Center: Four Oppositions in Search of a Comeback, pp. ?-? in G. Baldini and A. Cento Bull (eds), Italian Politics. Governing Fear, London, Berghahn.

Orsina, G. (2010). The Republic after Berlusconi: Some reflections on historiography, politics and the political use of history in post-1994 Italy, Modern Italy, 15, 1: 77-92.

Sani, G. and G. Sartori (1983). Polarization, Fragmentation and Competition in Western Democracies, pp. 307-340 in H. Daalder & P. Mair (eds) Western European Party Systems: Continuity and Change, London, Sage.

Wolinetz, Steven B. (2006) Party Systems and Party System Types, pp. 51-62 in Richard S. Katz and William J. Crotty (eds), Handbook of Party Politics, London, Sage.