Economic crisis in a stalemated democracy. The Italian case

In Southern Europe, the economic crisis (2008-2013) triggered a deeper political crisis, affecting a number of aspects of a representative democracy. Italy provides a particularly telling case of what happens when an economic crisis occurs in an unstable political context characterized by low government effectiveness, low efficiency, corruption, decline of electoral participation, fragmented and radicalized party competition, social inequality, high public debt, and other related features, here summarized in the model of “stalemated democracy”. On the basis of a comprehensive data set developed along with eight dimensions of democracy assessment and taking into account the policies pursued during the years of the crisis, we analyze the different effects of economic crisis—some of them expected, others more surprising—and how those effects characterize Italian political crisis and a new phase of great uncertainty. In the concluding remarks we offer an explanation of the role played by the economic crisis, focusing on the interplay between veto rules and actual veto players. Such an explanation is also relevant to see key, more in-depth aspects of Italian democracy during last twenty years and earlier.In Southern Europe, the economic crisis (2008-2013) triggered a deeper political crisis, affecting a number of aspects of a representative democracy. Italy provides a particularly telling case of what happens when an economic crisis occurs in an unstable political context characterized by low government effectiveness, low efficiency, corruption, decline of electoral participation, fragmented and radicalized party competition, social inequality, high public debt, and other related features, here summarized in the model of “stalemated democracy”. On the basis of a comprehensive data set developed along with eight dimensions of democracy assessment and taking into account the policies pursued during the years of the crisis, we analyze the different effects of economic crisis—some of them expected, others more surprising—and how those effects characterize Italian political crisis and a new phase of great uncertainty. In the concluding remarks we offer an explanation of the role played by the economic crisis, focusing on the interplay between veto rules and actual veto players. Such an explanation is also relevant to see key, more in-depth aspects of Italian democracy during last twenty years and earlier.Refereed Working Papers / of international relevanc

Equality, Freedom, and Democracy

A democratic regime is assumed to implement freedom and equality as the two critical and most important values. The question we intend to address here is: how and why has the actual implementation of freedom and equality been changing in the 1990–2020 period? Researching this topic, we cannot ignore the impact of the Great Recession since 2008. Thus, in this comparative research, we analyse France, Germany, Italy, Poland, Spain, and the United Kingdom to detect the changes. As expected, the six largest European democracies have been differently affected by the crisis, as they also had different background factors. We address an additional question: what is the impact of the European Union on the two democratic values? Accordingly, we analyse economic inequality, social inequality, and ethnic inequality with the related changing trends and explanations. We also detect and analyse the trend of freedoms, and especially personal dignity, civil rights, and political rights. Thus, the relative decline of equalities and freedoms in the six countries emerge in the different complex facets. We also explore the demand for equalities and freedoms by citizens and the political commitments of party leaders. The other issues we address include how and why, respectively, equalities and freedoms are affected by domestic aspects and the role of external factors, especially the European Union. By connecting equalities and freedoms and drawing the lines of entire research, we show how there are three different paths in the future of democracy: balanced democracy, protest democracy, and unaccountable democracy

Transitions to democracy: what theory to grasp complexity?

When analysing transitions towards democracy during the last three decades of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, it is readily apparent that the variety of empirical processes is so wide that achieving meaningful theoretical results is extremely difficult, as the existing literature on the topic shows explicitly. This paper addresses the key theoretical questions that need to be dealt with by the empirical analysis of the transitional process. Are there key, recurring actors and factors that we should take into account when analysing all cases in depth? Why is a focus on installation (not only on transition) salient? Are there recurring patterns of successful transitions? Are there key recurring mechanisms that critically explain successful transitions? And are there obstacles that make it impossible to achieve a successful transition and doom such a process to failure? On the basis of existing knowledge in the subfield, an attempt is made to reply to these questions, and in this way to single out the main theoretical results achieved in the field

Transitions to democracy: what theory to grasp complexity?

When analysing transitions towards democracy during the last three decades of the 20th century and the first decade of the 21st century, it is readily apparent that the variety of empirical processes is so wide that achieving meaningful theoretical results is extremely difficult, as the existing literature on the topic shows explicitly. This paper addresses the key theoretical questions that need to be dealt with by the empirical analysis of the transitional process. Are there key, recurring actors and factors that we should take into account when analysing all cases in depth? Why is a focus on installation (not only on transition) salient? Are there recurring patterns of successful transitions? Are there key recurring mechanisms that critically explain successful transitions? And are there obstacles that make it impossible to achieve a successful transition and doom such a process to failure? On the basis of existing knowledge in the subfield, an attempt is made to reply to these questions, and in this way to single out the main theoretical results achieved in the field

Explicar la calidad democrática: ¿qué tan relevantes son las tradiciones autoritarias?

This is the revised draft of the opening lecture given by the author at the 2004 Conference of Italian Society of Political Science in Padua. In the first section the main definitions of democracy and democratic qualities rule of law, electoral accountability, inter-institutional accountability, responsiveness, freedom and equality/solidarity are discussed. In the second a key question is addressed: if we would like to explain the qualities of a democracy how much are the previous political traditions of the country relevant? Other explanatory factors, which complement the role of an authoritarian legacy, are also suggested and a few key hypotheses are proposed. The final section does not provide any comprehensive explanation, but analyses of the impact of authoritarian legacy in a few countries of Southern Europe, such as Portugal, Spain, and Italy (but not Greece where it is not relevant) and in the Southern Cone as Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Brazil, where the quality of contemporary democracies is questioned.Esta es una versión revisada de la lectura abierta dada por el autor el año 2004, en la conferencia de la sociedad italiana de Ciencia Política en Padua. En la primera sección se discute la principal definición de democracia y calidad democrática, como estado de derecho, accountability electoral, accountability interinstitucional, responsiveness, libertad y equidad/solidaridad. En la segunda parte surge una pregunta clave: si nosotros quisiéramos explicar la calidad de la democracia, ¿cuán relevantes son las tradiciones políticas previas? También son sugeridos otros factores explicativos que complementan el rol de los legados autoritarios, proponiendo pequeñas hipótesis clave. En la última sección se analiza el impacto del legado autoritario sobre la calidad de las democracias contemporáneas en países del sur de Europa como Portugal, España e Italia y el Cono Sur de Latinoamérica tal como Chile, Argentina, Uruguay y Brasil

Las democracias en America Latina: un balance con consecuencias políticas

This paper starts from the application to Latin America of an analytical tool that has been developed to evaluate the quality of democracies and is based on the three notions of quality, in terms procedures (rule of law, electoral accountability, inter-institutional accountability, participation and political competition), content (freedom and socio-economic equality), and result (responsiveness). It takes in full consideration the previous research of the author on the area, and underlines both the major shortcomings that the empirical work has brought out and the most appropriate policies that should be implemented in order to improve the democratic quality of those countries. Obviously, the absence, partial or complete, of the actual conditions to put in place those policies is another matter and depends on other and related factors that would require subsequent empirical research to be enucleated