04871 - Italian Political System

Learning outcomes

Students acquire a good knowldege of how the Italian political system works today, in comparison with previous phases of recent Italian history. Both the main institutions and the role of political parties are interpreted in the light of the most recent and qualified literature in the field

Course contents

The course is taught in Italian.

It consists of two main parts. The first part, 24 hours analyses the development of the political system since the foundation of Italy as a State (1861). An intermediate exam will take place during week 5.

Attending students will then be divided in two groups for 2 seminars which focused respectively on Euroscepticism and on the peculiar interaction of populism and technocracy, as detailed in the Italian version of the Course's program.

Students are required to prepare two individual PowerPoint presentations on two topics of in-depth study: Euroscepticism and populism/technocracy.
Each presentation should last approximately 10 minutes.
The presentations, to be agreed in advance with the instructor, will be followed by a class discussion.

Readings/Bibliography

Attending students will have to read the following books for part 1 of the class (more info available during the classes)

First part of the course (module 1)

G. Baldini-A. Pritoni, Il sistema politico italiano, Mondadori Università, 2022

Mandatory background reading:

Chiaramonte, A., Emanuele, V., Maggini, N., & Paparo, A. (2022). Radical-right surge in a deinstitutionalised party system: the 2022 Italian general election. South European Society and Politics, 27(3), 329-357.

Hobolt, S. B., Popa, S. A., & van der Brug, W. (2026). European democracy in action? The 2024 European Parliament elections. Journal of European Public Policy, 33(2), 399-414.

Seminar 1: Euroscepticism

Cabras, L., E. Borghetto, L. Quaglia, I. Guardiancich (2025), From criticism to pragmatism? The impact of NGEU funding on party-based Euroscepticism in Italy, Italian Political Science Review, onlinefirst

Conti N., Marangoni F. and Verzichelli L. (2020), “Euroscepticism in Italy from the Onset of the Crisis: Tired of Europe?”, in South European Society and Politics, published online, doi:10.1080/13608746.2020.1757885

Hooghe L. and Marks G. (2009), “A Postfunctionalist Theory of European Integration: From Permissive Consensus to Constraining Dissensus”, in British Journal of Political Science, 39(1), pp. 1-23

Taggart P. and Szczerbiak A. (2018), “Putting Brexit into perspective: the effect of the Eurozone and migration crises and Brexit on Euroscepticism in European states", in Journal of European Public Policy, 25(8), pp. 1194-1214.

Seminar, Populism & Technocracy:

Caramani D. (2017), “Will vs. Reason: The Populist and Technocratic Forms of Political Representation and Their Critique to Party Government”, in American Political Science Review, 111(1), pp. 54-67

Emanuele, V., Improta, M., Marino, B., & Verzichelli, L. (2023). Going technocratic? Diluting governing responsibility in electorally turbulent times. West European Politics, 46(5), 995-1023

Tarchi M. (2015), “Italy: The promised land of populism?”, in Contemporary Italian Politics, 7(3), pp. 273-285

Verzichelli L. and Cotta M. (2017), “Shades of Technocracy: The Variable Use of Non-partisan Ministers in Italy”, in Costa Pinto A., Cotta M. and Tavares de Almeida P., Technocratic Ministers and Political Leadership in European Democracies, Basingstoke, Palgrave, pp. 77-110

Non-attending students will have to read an additional book (beside the Baldini-Pritoni textbook), among the following:

M. Almagisti, L. Lanzalaco, L. Verzichelli (acd), La transizione politica italiana, Roma, Carocci, 2014

S. Cassese, Governare gli italiani. Storia dello Stato, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2014

A. Chiaramonte L. De Sio (acd), Le elezioni politiche del 2022, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2024

M. Cotta, F. Marangoni, Il governo, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2015

F. Fornaro, 2 giugno 1946, Torino, Bollati e Boringhieri, 2022

P. Isernia, S. Martini, L. Verzichelli, La classe politica italiana. Struttura, atteggiamenti, sfide, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2023

ITANES [https://www.mulino.it/author/Sitomulino:AUTOREVOLUME:1844], Svolta a destra? Cosa ci dice il voto del 2022. Bologna, Il Mulino, 2023

L. Morlino, D. Piana, F. Raniolo (acd), La qualità della democrazia in Italia, 1992-2012, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013

F. Musella, Il governo in Italia, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2019

G. Orsina, Il berlusconismo nella storia d'Italia, Venezia, Marsilio, 2013

A. Pritoni, M. Valbruzzi, R. Vignati (acd), La prova del No. Il sistema politico italiano dopo il referendum costituzionale, Soveria Mannelli, Rubbettino, 2017

F. Russo, Gli onorevoli. Cosa fanno e come ci rappresentano i nostri parlamentari, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013

S. Vassallo (acd), Il divario incolmabile. Rappresentanza politica e rendimento istituzionale nelle regioni italiane, Bologna, Il Mulino, 2013

S. Vassallo, R. Vignati, Fratelli di Giorgia, Il Mulino 2023

Alternatively, they can pick:

- one edition of the Yearbook: POLITICA IN ITALIA (from 2013 onwards), il Mulino (published in english by Berghahn as 'Italian Politics', until 2017, then, since 2018 as the latest issue of the journal 'Contemporary Italian Politics', available online https://www.tandfonline.com/journals/rita20)

- five entries from: E. Jones, G. Pasquino (eds) Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics, Oxford 2015; https://www.oxfordhandbooks.com/view/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199669745.001.0001/oxfordhb-9780199669745

Teaching methods

See Italian version for specific content of classes

Assessment methods

On week 6, attending students will take an intermediate exam, mostly based on multiple choice questions (and some open-ended ones). They will then have to present twice in class on the topics of the seminars.

Non-attending students will also have one additional oral examination on the entire program, plus the additional book of their choice

Teaching tools

Power-point slides, additional resources (including short videos)

Office hours

See the website of Gianfranco Baldini