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Call for Papers: UK Political Studies Association Annual Conference 2013 – ‘The Party’s Over?’ – Cardiff, 25-27
March 2013
Panel title: 'The Monti Government: technocrats at the helm - accountability, performance and legacy'
Chairs: James Newell
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(University of Salford) and Laura Polverari
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(University of Strathclyde)
Discussants:
James Newell and
Laura Polverari
Italy has been hit particularly severely by the financial and economic crisis that has afflicted Western economies
since 2008. Unemployment levels have risen sharply, GPD has contracted into recession, rating agencies have downgraded the country, whilst the high spread between Italian and German bonds has shown and continues to show a substantial
lack of confidence by the markets in the ability of the Italian economy to survive the storm, putting the country at even greater risk of more prolonged instability.
Initially ignored by public opinion and overlooked by the media, the press and the government itself, the gravity
of the situation has gradually started to sink in into the minds and consciences of the Italian elites and population. Yet, nothing signalled as unequivocally as Silvio Berlusconi’s forced resignation as Prime Minister, in November 2011, that the ‘party’ was
well and truly over.
The task of forming a new government and rescuing the country from a possible default fell to Mario Monti: unelected,
esteemed academic, twice European Commissioner. Monti equipped himself with a team of ‘technocrats’, like himself, and obtained the bipartisan endorsement of Parliament. His task could be defined as one of ‘crisis management’ (Della Porta and Vannucci 2007):
he was appointed to guarantee prompt action against a rapidly deteriorating economic situation, by avoiding the lengthy government formation processes (and possible risks) of anticipated elections.
After almost a year since Mario Monti took charge, the time is ripe to discuss a number of questions pertaining
to the accountability, performance and future legacy of this experience. The panel will thus aim to explore the following questions:
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To what extent does the appointment of a government of unelected technocrats raise questions of democratic legitimacy? With such a large parliamentary
majority, to whom exactly is the government accountable?
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What are the parallelisms and differences between today’s technocratic government and those of the early/mid 1990s? What do they tell us about
the quality of the Italian democracy and how it has evolved in the past two decades?
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If the Monti government’s mandate is one of ‘crisis management’, what are the limits of such mandate; who is ensuring that the limits are respected,
and how effectively are they doing so? Has the Monti government overstepped boundaries in its activity to date?
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What have been the exact objectives of Monti’s government and thus the parameters according to which its performance and effectiveness should
be appraised? Were these objectives transparent enough (in the absence of an electoral programme)? Since government members will not (presumably) be standing for election, what is the sanction for poor performance?
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What has been the government’s performance so far, both with regard to the actions taken and those not taken? Has the government adequately
prioritised its efforts?
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What will the legacy of the Monti government be? What are the foreseeable consequences that the Monti government parenthesis might have on the
forthcoming 2013 general elections?
Papers are invited that address these and other questions linked to the Monti government, exploring both substantive
issues pertaining to the government’s activity and theoretical issues in relation to the nature of a technocratic executive. All methodological approaches will be accepted, though proposals adopting an historical stance or a stance informed by sociological
institutionalism, addressing the above or other questions from the perspective of path dependency, will be especially welcome.
Paper proposals should be submitted by 1 October to Laura Polverari ([log in to unmask])
and Jim Newell ([log in to unmask])
from either of whom further details about the conference and the panel can be obtained.