Italy’s Divided Politics
| Date | 01 June 2018 |
| DOI | 10.1177/2041905818779329 |
| Published date | 01 June 2018 |
JUNE 2018 • POLITICAL INSIGHT 19
March’s Italian General Election
was widely seen as part of
the ‘populist revolt’ ostensibly
sweeping Europe. Once
marginal, anti-establishment forces achieved
spectacular advances to win a combined
vote share of more than 50 per cent. In
many respects, however, the Italian outcome
was similar to that of the election held ve
years earlier but the 2018 result revealed
that Italy’s party system is far from stable.
On the one hand, the principal forces
in competition – the centre right, the
centre left and the Five-Star Movement
(M5s) – remained the same. Turnout, at 73
per cent, showed a slowdown in a decline
that had been going on since 1976. But
there were clear signs of a blowing wind of
Italy’s Divided
Politics
The recent Italian General Election saw major gains for anti-
establishment forces. James Newell examines the results and
analyses what Italy’s uncertain political future means for the
country, and the rest of Europe.
change. Net volatility measures the change
in the distribution of the vote between
the forces in competition and is important
as it is one indicator of party-system (in)
stability and change. At 26.7 – as measured
by Pedersen’s (1979) index – net volatility
was the third highest since the war. Unlike
1994 and 2013, this could not be ‘explained
away’ by the explosive emergence of ‘new
entrants’ (Chiaramonte and Emanuele,
2017).
Big winners – and big losers
The election produced two big winners –
the Eurosceptic M5s and the even more
© Press Association
Political Insight June 2018 NEW.indd 19 02/05/2018 15:40
To continue reading
Request your trial