Political Parties and Coalitional Behaviour in Italy / Edition 1

by Geoffrey Pridham

Overview

Coalitional behaviour is central to the Italian system of government but has been largely neglected by research. As a result, coalitions in post-war Italy have been viewed as simply unstable, short-lived and incohesive. In this book, the author corrects this one-sidedness by analysing Italian coalition politics as a continuous and dynamic process. His comprehensive, interpretative approach takes account of other new developments in coalition studies and relates his subject both to the literature on Italian politics and to the comparative study of party systems in liberal democracies. An introductory section places Italian coalitional behaviour in a theoretical and comparative context. This inductive framework is then used as a reference for examining the historical, institutional, motivational, internal, socio-political andenvironmental dimensions of the phenomenon.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780415005036
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	06/30/1988
Pages:	454
Product dimensions:	5.44(w) x 8.50(h) x (d)

Table of Contents

Part 1 Interpreting Italian Coalitional Behaviour: The Theory and the Practice; Chapter 1 Coalition Theory and the Case of Italy; Chapter 2 Italy's Part y System and Coalitional Behaviour in Comparative Perspective; Chapter 3 Italian Coalitional Behaviour in the Literature; Chapter 4 Inductive Theory and Research Methodology; Part 2 Italian Coalitional Behaviour: Multi-Dimensional Perspectives on National Politics; Chapter 5 The Historical Dimension: Patterns, Traditions and Conventions; Chapter 6 The Institutional Dimension: Formalities and Realities of Governing Structures; Chapter 7 The Motivational Dimension: Problems of Power, Ideology and Strategy; Part 3 Italian Coalitional Behaviour: Sub-National Politics and Vertical Linkages; Chapter 8 The Horizontal/Vertical Dimension: A Case of Unity in Diversity?; Chapter 9 The Internal Part y Dimension: Elite Control and Elite Constraints; Part 4 Italian Coalitional Behaviour in a Deeper and Wider Setting; Chapter 10 The Socio-Political Dimension: Coalition Politics and the Public Domain; Chapter 11 The Environmental/External Dimension: Wider Perspectives on Italian Coalition Politics;

Editorial Reviews

‘There are many general insights into Italian politics to be gleaned from this study, not least the revealing and often fascinating comments of many national and local leaders interviewed by the author.' - Association of Italian Teachers Journal

‘Pridham demonstrates an awesome command of the secondary literature on coalition governments.' - Association for the Study of Modern Italy

From the Publisher