italian-studies: Scholarly discussions in any field of Italian studies
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Italian Politics Specialist Group
PSA 65th ANNUAL INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
‘CIVIC PRIDE’ – Sheffield, 30th March – 1st April 2015
PANEL PROPOSAL:
“THE PARTY OF THE LEADER – PERSONALISATION OF POLITICAL LEADERSHIP IN ITALY: WHAT CONSEQUENCES FOR PARTIES & PARTY SYSTEMS?”
CALL FOR PAPERS
Italy is often regarded as an extreme example of the personalisation of politics, which has been apparent in all or most democratic systems and which has manifested itself in at least three ways. First, there has been a growing focus on, and significance for, election outcomes of individual candidates and their characteristics. Second, there has been a presidentialisation of party politics as processes of mediatisation, the deconstruction of traditional cleavages and therefore the alleged competitive advantages of charismatic leaders have allowed them to acquire greater autonomy from their party machines to become chiefly responsible for the substance of their campaigns and the policies they intend to implement. Third, there has been the emergence of “personal and/or personalised parties”, meaning organisations set up by individuals exclusively to further their personal political ambitions and run on a more or less patrimonial basis, of which Silvio Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, is of course the classic example. Besides, most recently, the rise of (post-modern) leaders such as Matteo Renzi (Democratic Party) and Beppe Grillo (5Star Movement) suggests that the personalisation of political leadership is now becoming the norm – with huge impacts on the power structures within the Italian political system and its parties.
While the causes of such personalisation have been extensively studied and are well known, rather less is known about its consequences for political parties or for party systems. Certainly, there have been several attempts to imitate the Berlusconi model in significant respects, but one can envisage at least two alternative scenarios: either personalisation leads to increased professionalization, centralisation and therefore cohesiveness of political parties; or else it renders them increasingly fragile as the growing independence of leaders from their parties leads their parties to feel more independent of their leaders and therefore more inclined to rebel.
Against this background, we invite papers that explore one or more of these themes focussing either on Italy or on Italy in comparative perspective. Papers may focus on individual parties or party systems. We are particularly interested in papers offering to explore the above themes for the light they throw on the “Renzi phenomenon” and how it is to be interpreted.
Paper abstracts (circa 250 words) should be e-mailed by 1 October to: Arianna Giovannini ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>) and Jim Newell ([log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]>).
For more information visit the conference website at: http://www.psa.ac.uk/conference/2015-conference
James L. Newell
Professor of Politics | School of Humanities, Languages and Social Sciences
Room 920, Maxwell Building, University of Salford, Salford M5 4WT
t: +44 (0)161 295 5660
[log in to unmask]<mailto:[log in to unmask]> | www.salford.ac.uk<http://www.salford.ac.uk/>
Editor, Contemporary Italian Politics, http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rita20#.UlFE98xwZ2E
Italian Politics Specialist Group, http://italianpolitics.blogspot.co.uk<http://italianpolitics.blogspot.co.uk/>
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