Welcome to our book review site go-pdf.online!
You may have to Search all our reviewed books and magazines, click the sign up button below to create a free account.
Beppe Grillo's Five Star Movement
In 2009 Beppe Grillo, a well-known Italian comedian, established the Five Star Movement with the aim of sending a handful of citizens to municipal councils to act as the watchdog of a professional political class often perceived as corrupt and self-interested. However, in the Italian general elections of February 2013, despite still largely being considered a small protest movement, the party gained the undisputed role of leading political actor gaining just under 9 million votes and sending 163 Deputies and Senators to the Italian parliament. The birth and rapid rise of the Five Star Movement represents an electoral earthquake with no parallels in Italy and the whole of post-1945 Western Europe and a phenomenon likely to shape the Italian political scene for many years to come. Drawing on an extensive array of data and face-to-face interviews, this volume offers an empirically grounded explanation of the surprising electoral success of the Five Star Movement and presents a realistic picture of this party in its manifold aspects: organisational structure, communication style, linkages with civil society, ideological nature and positioning in the Italian political system.
Technopopulism
This is a book about a contemporary transformation in democratic politics: the rise of a new political field, techno-populism.
Europe Today
Now in its sixth edition, Europe Today presents unrivaled coverage of developments in major European countries and across the region. Thoroughly revised and updated—including new chapters on Turkey and the wider European neighborhood to address their growing influence—this is the only work that offers a sustained and unified set of both country case studies and thematic chapters on the European Union. Written by leading scholars from Europe and North America, the book shows a range of perspectives on the process of European integration, the evolution of economic performance, and the reaction to multiculturalism and immigration. Highlighting the impact of the global economic crisis, the C...
The Great Reform That Never Was
In Italy, 2016 was meant to be the year of the "great reform," a constitutional revision that would have concluded the never-ending transition from "First" to "Second" Republic, a long process involving several transformations in the electoral system and party system since the 1990s. It did not turn out this way. Instead, the Renzi-Boschi law for constitutional revision, which started its parliamentary procedure in April 2014 and saw its final reading in the Chamber of Deputies in April 2016, was eventually rejected by voters in a confirmative referendum held on 4 December.
A Natural Experiment on Electoral Law Reform
In the early 1990s, major electoral reforms took place in both Italy and Japan; each replaced a form of “proportional representation” (in which voters cast a ballot for a party list) with a “mixed member” system (in which voters cast ballots for individual candidates and party lists). The reforms were enacted by political elites in the context of divisions within the dominant party, changing patterns of party support, and party splits, in efforts to retain power while responding to charges of corruption, clientelism, and lack of accountability. The experiences of both countries provide a laboratory in which to investigate the effects and implications of the reforms, and, more broadly...
Contesting Spain? The Dynamics of Nationalist Movements in Catalonia and the Basque Country
Contesting Spain? The Dynamics of Nationalist Movements in Catalonia and the Basque Country offers an exploration of the dynamics behind contemporary shifts in the orientation of nationalist parties and movements with reference to Catalonia and the Basque country in Spain. The chapters were originally papers presented at a workshop held at the Barcelona Centre for International Affairs (CIDOB) in September 2014 as part of a research project on ‘The Dynamics of Nationalist Evolution in Contemporary Spain’, whose purpose was to gain a better understanding of why regionally-based nationalist movements have experienced shifting relationships with the Spanish state over time, in some periods ...
Fathers of the Lega
This book investigates the historical roots of the Italian Republic’s oldest surviving political party, the populist far right Lega (Nord), tracing its origins to post-war Italy. The author examines two main case studies: the Movements for Regional Autonomy (MRAs), the Piedmontese Movement for Regional Autonomy (the MARP) and the Bergamascan Movement for Autonomy (the MAB), both of which formed a first wave of post-war populist regionalism from 1955 until 1960. The regionalist leagues which later emerged in both Piedmont and Lombardy in the 1980s – and which would later form part of the Lega Nord – represented in many ways a revival of the MRAs’ populist regionalist discourse and ide...
Much Ado About Nothing?
The year 2010 marked the halfway point for Silvio Berlusconi’s fourth government with the solidity of its electoral mandate threatened on a number of occasions by strong clashes with the opposition, ultimately leading to a “divorce” from Gianfranco Fini. The upheaval that followed this rift dominated the second half of the year. This volume examines not only this rift but also the important political and social events of a period full of polemics and tensions, from the regional elections and the debate on fiscal federalism to the state of the opposition parties. The political agenda was consumed by everyday matters, such as the scandals surrounding the Civil Protection Service and the ...
The Party Politics of Decentralization
This book addresses the process of decentralization in Italy, examined from the perspective of political parties. In particular, it assesses whether and to what extent the dynamics of party competition are likely to shape policy agenda and affect policy change. The author starts by providing a thorough account of the process and history of Italian decentralization and the policy outcomes achieved over time, before discussing how party attention to an issue triggers related policy changes (manipulation of salience). Next, the focus shifts to the concrete positions adopted by parties on decentralization to assess whether the pattern of party competition has been consensual or adversarial, and how this pattern influenced the process of reform (manipulation of position). Finally, the author examines the role of frames in party competition. This volume offers essential research that will prove useful to a variety of audiences, ranging from scholars of territorial and Italian politics to those interested in agenda-setting, policy change, and party politics.
