Wilson A., « Multi-level Parties and Regional Presidents in Italy » (ST 5)

Alex Wilson (Vrije Universiteit Brussel, Belgique)

This paper analyses the territorial strategies and dynamics of power within statewide parties in Italy, focusing on the complex yet largely unexplored relationship between political parties and directly elected regional presidents. The latter were introduced as part of a broad wave of institutional changes aimed at improving the functioning of Italian democracy, but were soon viewed as a threat to the primacy of national politicians (Fabbrini & Brunazzo, 2003). Regional case studies of Lombardy and Campania highlight the informal dynamics of presidentialism, and the consequent shifts this entails in intra-party power and inter-party competition (Poguntke and Webb, 2005). We find that regional presidents exert a growing personalisation of party control at sub-national levels, largely due to their enhanced capacity for political nomination and de facto status as party negotiators in the governing coalition, allowing them to partially shape structures of regional party competition. Yet presidents remain constrained by coalitional politics at regional level, struggling at times to assert their authority against powerful territorial challengers such as the highly centralised Northern League (Lombardy), or against decentralised but cohesive alliances of local powerbrokers (Campania). Regional presidents rely heavily on consensual practices to consolidate their power but have few intra-party (or institutional) mechanisms to wield influence at national level, making them unwilling to openly challenge the party leadership on strategic issues. Instead, statewide parties in Italy are displaying a clear pattern of “stratarchy” and “cartelisation” at all territorial levels, in practice making their organisations less centralised and hierarchical (Katz and Mair, 1995, Bolleyer, 2011) but no less conflictual. These findings have broader comparative implications for the study of multi-level politics and party organisations.

Section thématique 5 : Stratégies partisanes et idéologies dans les systèmes électoraux multi-niveaux
Session unique, jeudi 10 avril 2014, 10h00-12h30