Suchergebnisse

Italy was the first European democracy to be hit by the Covid-19 pandemic. The government's response, especially in the first wave, was confused, dilatory and inadequate, and the country found itself in an unprecedented public health crisis, leading to a national lockdown between March and May. The easing of restrictions in May and an improved situation in the summer did not prevent cases rising again from the autumn onwards, and Italy finished the year in a series of mini-lockdowns. The government was confronted with a debate over Italy's high death toll and the role of the executive's own failings in it. Yet, the pandemic did not prompt a political crisis. Rather, it had the effect of blunting the frontal opposition of the League and strengthening the standing of the government with the public. This especially applied to the Prime Minister, Giuseppe Conte, whose personal ratings soared, as the public rallied behind a leader facing the greatest challenge of any peacetime Italian prime minister.

Book review: A lesson in Italian democracy from the Maestro Italian democracy. How it works, by Gianfranco Pasquino, London, Routledge, 2019, 248 pp., €41.69 (paperback), ISBN 978-1-138-30186-3

Martin J. Bull is Professor of Politics and Associate Dean for Research & Innovation at the University of Salford, and former Director of the European Consortium of Political Research. He is currently Editor of the Italian Political Science Review and the Journal of Contemporary European Studies, as well as Founding Editor of the ECPR's political science blog-site, The Loop. He serves on the Editorial Boards of South European Society and Politics, Modern Italy, and Contemporary Italian Politics. He is former Editor of Modern Italy (2005-2010), European Political Science (2006-2013) and Social Sciences (2011-2018), as well as former Associate Editor of Parliamentary Affairs (2007-2012), and former Editorial Board member of several journals including West European Politics and Politics. The following interview was conducted by the editor of Italian Political Science, Nicolò Conti and edited by the interviewee.

An experiment in following China's lead while trying to respect democratic norms is causing tensions.

The UK was once viewed by political scientists as embodying a distinct majoritarian form of politics – the 'Westminster Model' – that stood in contrast to the 'consensus' democracies found elsewhere in Europe. Several of the countries in the latter group, such as Italy, were often assumed to be inherently prone to instability in comparison to the UK. Yet as this article explains, politics in Westminster now has some striking similarities with the Italian approach that once invited scorn from British observers.

By calling an early election, government and parliament have effectively breached both the spirit and intent of the Fixed-Term Parliaments Act. The implications of this outcome are significant and suggest that the act is unlikely to survive another legislative session.

Germany marked the 30th anniversary of the fall of the Berlin Wall on 9 November 2019. This article argues that alongside the sweeping changes that occurred in central and eastern Europe, the end of the Cold War also had a lasting legacy for western European states. While the demise of western Europe's communist parties after 1989 appeared to signify the passing of a burnt-out cause, it acted as a catalyst for change in the political space to the left of social democracy, generating new ideas and configurations that continue to shape politics today.

Italy's political future hangs in the balance – will it see another chaotic grand coalition, or take an anti-EU populist step into the unknown?

Former prime minister Matteo Renzi resigned as leader of the Italian Democratic Party (PD) in February 2017 in a move that left the country's centre left in ruins. His party was split as a result of his action, giving the far right an opportunity to seize government after the next election.

Academic associations are a vital part of the academic community, facilitating the interaction of researchers and production of knowledge, yet the impact of Open Access on their future has been too often regarded as marginal to the main discussion. Open Access presents an evident threat to those associations which have become dependent upon a sizeable proportion of their income coming from owned journals published in conjunction with publishers. Yet, Open Access also presents opportunities, and academic associations should be bold in using a combination of their expertise, prestige and experience in publishing to ensure their futures in a newly emerging market.

This article introduces a Symposium which brings together the academic and publishing industry in two key countries (the UK and the US) to analyse and assess the implications of Open Access (OA) journal publishing in the social and political sciences, as well as its different formats and developments to date. With articles by three academics (all involved in academic associations) and three publishers, the Symposium represents an exchange of views which help each of the two sectors understand better the perspectives of the other. More generally, the Symposium aims to raise the visibility of OA amongst the academic community whose general awareness and knowledge of OA – compared with publishers – has been rather limited to date.

Only days after its prime minister resigned over a lost referendum, Italy found itself with a new government and a new prime minister, Paolo Gentiloni. But however smooth the transition was, the turbulent circumstances that led up to it were far from resolved. Despite the vote having widely been regarded as a political vote against former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi, the new government resembles very much its predecessor, leading to accusations of a stitch-up.