Bjørn Erik Rasch, Shane Martin, and José Antonio Cheibub edited a book on the role of parliaments in government formation. The book covers several countries, and the introduction can be read here. I wrote the chapter on Italy, where I assessed the effect of formal and informal rules on the type of governments which were in office since 1948. Perhaps the constitutional reform now under discussion in Parliament will dramatically change the government formation process, abolishing the peculiar bicameral investiture procedure that has been in force until now. In that case I will be happy to write an update.
Autore: Federico
New article published on CIP
In these days Sky Italia is broadcasting “1992”, an intriguing story set in the Italian politics of the early Nineties. Looking back at that period we all wondered how far Italy has changed in the last two decades. For most of us the answer is probably “not enough”.
My latest article is not as engaging as the thriller based on an idea of Stefano Accorsi, but nonetheless it has something in common with “1992”. In this work I analyze how parliamentary politics has changed in the last twenty years, and whether the majoritarian revolution that was promised then has actually taken place.
Enjoy!
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/23248823.2014.1002245#abstract
New article published on POLIS
In this article, co-authored with my friends Filippo Tronconi and Luca Verzichelli, we analyze the Italian Parliament as it emerged from the 2013 elections.
The elections of February 2013 have brought significant changes to the landscape of Italian politics and to the Italian parliament, both in the format of the party system and in the characters of individual representatives. The raise of a new and innovative political force (the Movimento 5 Stelle) and an exceptional parliamentary turnover (two out of three Members of parliament have been elected for the first time) are the most evident signs of the magnitude of this political earthquake. This article aims, in first place, to depict the main elements of discontinuity of the representative process after the last elections. After that, the consequences of such change are explored in four domains of legislative behaviour: the election of the three highest officials of the republican institutions (the President of the Republic and the Presidents of the two chambers), the fluidity of partisan organizations in parliament, the degree of party unity in legislative voting, and cross-party cooperation in legislative drafting. We conclude presenting some (pessimistic) reflections on the prospects for a consolidation of the present political scenario and the institutionalization of an efficient representative process in the near future.
Course on Data Collection and Analysis
The third part of the course on Data Collection and Analysis has finally begun.
If you are a student, or just want to look around, look at the course webpage.
Political Science 2013-2014
The course in Political Science for undergraduate students of the “Corso di Laurea in Economia” has started on the 4th of March.
Click here for this year programme.