Description
Berghahn Books Quo Vadis? 2005 Edition by Carlo Guarnieri, James L. Newell
2004 was a year that threw into sharp relief the principal features of the present political conjuncture, that is, one in which the Italian political transition shows few signs of coming to a conclusion. 2004 was, therefore, a year of limited change, one in which reforms were announced but not fully achieved and where the few that were achieved were noteworthy for the compromises that were necessary in order to make them possible at all. It was, too, a year in which there emerged a stalemate between the center-right and center-left coalitions which, pending the regional elections of 2005 and the general election of 2006, took almost equal shares of the vote at the elections for the European Parliament.This volume examines these elections, paying special attention to Forza Italia, the prime minister's party, and the workings of the governing alliance and gives a well-rounded overview over the year's most important developments regarding the government's approach to the European constitution, the new judicial system, and the pensions legislation - the only major reform actually completed during 2004. Table of contents :- Introduction: 2004: A Year on "Hold" Carlo Guarnieri and James L. Newell Chapter 1. Intra- and Inter-Alliance Relations After the 2004 European and Provinical ElectionsMark DonovanChapter 2. Elections in the Cities: Yet Another Defeat for the Center-RightGuido Legnante Chapter 3. Forza Italia after Ten YearsJonathan Hopkin Chapter 4. Playing the Wrong Tunes? Italy and the European Union in 2004 Mark Gilbert Chapter 5. The Constitutional Reforms of the Center-RightSalvatore Vassallo Chapter 6. The Role of the Ministry of the Economy and FinanceDavid Hine Chapter 7. The Reform of the JudiciaryPatrizia PederzoliChapter 8. The Berlusconi Pension Reform and the Emerging "Double Cleravage" in Distributive PoliticsDavid Natali and Martin Rhodes Chapter 9. The Collpase of ParmalatMarco Onado Chapter 10. The Question of the Middle ClassArnaldo Bagnasco Chapter 11. Confindustria under MontezemoloGisueppe Berta Documentary AppendixCompiled by Debora Mantovani