Democracy at stake

Abstract

Governmental instability, though a persistent feature of Italian politics, cannot be interpreted as an indicator that there always was a crisis of democracy in Italy. Very often there were, and there are, problems of functioning: crises within democracy. This article argues that Italian parties have been responsible for the appearance, the existence, and the evolution of Italian democracy. The collapse of the party system and the disappearance of all major parties between 1992 and 1994 have strongly and negatively affected the working of Italian democracy. The electoral system has been twice reformed with very poor results. There is an on-going institutional transition that is the cause and consequence of an impressive reallocation of political and institutional powers among all-important institutions: the Presidency of the Republic, the government, Parliament, and the judicial system mainly, the Constitutional Court. Unless Italian parties restructure themselves and a decent bipolar competition redefines the party system, the functioning of Italian democracy will be "at stake" and its quality will remain unsatisfactory.