Changing political parties, persistent patronage: The Italian case in comparative perspective

In: Comparative European politics, Band 10, Heft 4

Abstract

The politicization of the state is a relevant feature of contemporary democracies. At the analytical level, the article contributes to the study of patterns of politicization of the state, distinguishing the concept of patronage from other notions of political particularism often used synonymously in the literature. At the empirical level, the article examines patronage practices in contemporary Italy. It is part of a cross-national qualitative survey that allows the contextualization of the Italian case within a wider set of 15 European democracies for which aggregate comparative data will be presented. The empirical analysis identifies the causal mechanisms that explain why Italy still displays high, albeit decreasing, levels of politicization of the state. Adapted from the source document.