Articles and papers by Eugenio Pizzimenti
The aim of this paper is to analyse the evolution of the Italian public funding regime, in the li... more The aim of this paper is to analyse the evolution of the Italian public funding regime, in the light of the assumptions of the cartel party thesis. In the mid-1990s, the debate on party and party system change was revitalised by R. Katz and P. Mair (1995), who introduced the concept of the ‘cartel party’ as a means to study the increasing influence of the state on party politics. Among the main analytical dimensions of the cartel party argument, the system-level variables have received little attention with respect to the Italian case. In what follows I try to find out empirical evidence for the hypothesised changes in the relationship between parties and the state and in the patterns of inter-party competition. I will analyse the trends of the law-making process in the domain of party funding (1948–2014), by combining these observations with data on parties’ reliance on state funds and party collusive behaviour. less
This article introduces the first findings of the Political Party Database Project, a major surve... more This article introduces the first findings of the Political Party Database Project, a major survey of party organizations in parliamentary and semi-presidential democracies. The project’s first round of data covers 122 parties in 19 countries. In this article, we describe the scope of the database, then investigate what it tells us about contemporary party organization in these countries, focusing on parties’ resources, structures and internal decision-making. We examine organizational patterns by country and party family, and where possible we make temporal comparisons with older data sets. Our analyses suggest a remarkable coexistence of uniformity and diversity. In terms of the major organizational resources on which parties can draw, such as members, staff and finance, the new evidence largely confirms the continuation of trends identified in previous research: that is, declining membership, but enhanced financial resources and more paid staff. We also find remarkable uniformity regarding the core architecture of party organizations. At the same time, however, we find substantial variation between countries and party families in terms of their internal processes, with particular regard to how internally democratic they are, and the forms that this democratization takes. less
In the last 20 years an increasing number of scholars have centred their attention on the relatio... more In the last 20 years an increasing number of scholars have centred their attention on the relationships between party national structures and party sub-national branches. A relevant part of the specialized literature has interpreted party change as the by-product of the denationalization of party politics. The aim of this contribution is to investigate to what extent eight relevant Italian parties have followed patterns of organizational change, after the reforms of the municipal, provincial and regional election sys-tems; and the process of devolution of administrative powers begun during the Nineties. By focusing on two analytical dimensions (the level of involvement and the level of autonomy of party regional units), we analyse diachronically continuity and change in party formal organization, through an in-depth analysis of the statutes adopted from 1992 to 2012
This article investigates the centre-periphery power relations within Italian political parties i... more This article investigates the centre-periphery power relations within Italian political parties in the last twenty years. Following Katz and Mair approach in their study on party organization, the present work relies on the 'official story' of political parties: it analyses the parties' statutes, internal organizational regulations and balance sheets in order to assess the power relations between the centre - the national headquarters - and the local party structures at regional level. The analysis focuses on three crucial domains of the party organization, whose control is critical for the centre to impose its power over the sub-national level. The research demonstrates that Italian parties display a loose top-down hold and they have moved toward a stratarchical pattern. Moreover, Italian parties appear clearly aligned along the left-right continuum with respect to their level of central control.
O artigo visa avaliar os principais aspetos da institucionalização dos partidos políticos ao níve... more O artigo visa avaliar os principais aspetos da institucionalização dos partidos políticos ao nível da Uniao Europeia (UE). Os Partidos Políticos ao Nível Europeu (PPNE) foram formados fora das instituições europeias e, antes do Regulamento 2004-2003, foram basicamente federações transnacionais de partidos políticos nacionais. A introdução do financiamento público do orçamento da UE para os PPNE tinha como objetivo institucionalizar e apoiar estas organizações. No entanto, a influência dos PPNE na esfera politica europeia ainda e limitada. Embora duas mudanças institucionais e políticas já tenham sido implementadas – a aprovação de um novo estatuto para os partidos europeus e a nomeação de candidatos para a presidência da Comissão Europeia – o seu impacto na consolidação dos PPNE ainda precisa de ser verificado empiricamente.
The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects on European political party organisations (Pp... more The aim of this paper is to investigate the effects on European political party organisations (PpEls), and on their party system, of Reg. 2004/2003's implementation. Regulation (EC) 2004/2003 defines the role of PpEls and the requirements needed for party eligibility to receive funding from the European Union. The provisions of the Regulation may well be able to consolidate more effectively the various party components operating at European level. However, while the literature on the funding of party organisations suggests that rules and regulations have a tendency to promote organisational convergence, the Eu Regulation set only a generic organisational pre-requisite for PpEls. In addition, the generally positive picture provided by the statute is counterbalanced by provisions which keep the PpEls in a subordinate position with respect to their national components and the parliamentary groups. Our investigation follows two main trajectories: an in-depth comparative analysis of PpEl statutes and internal regulations; and a critic review of Regulation 2004/2003 provisions and its impacts on the balance of powers between PPELs and national political parties. The goal of this contribution is to shed some light over the state of the art of the building process of a more effective and autonomous transnational party system.
This Report is a follow-up study on “How to create a transnational party system” (2010); it illus... more This Report is a follow-up study on “How to create a transnational party system” (2010); it illustrates recent challenges and opportunities at EU level concerning the emergence of: i) transnational parties and a transnational party system; ii) constraints and opportunities for representative democracy. The main areas addressed in the report are: (a) voting coherence of the EP Party Groups after the Euro-crisis; (b) regulation of political parties at European level (PPELs); (c) role of political foundations at European level (PFELs).
Contemporary Italian Politics, 2013
Since the 1970s, in Italy, the owner occupied sector has been constantly growing and social housi... more Since the 1970s, in Italy, the owner occupied sector has been constantly growing and social housing construction has sharply declined. Moreover, the public intervention of Italian governments has traditionally privileged property subsidies over the development of a large socially rented housing sector, whose dimension is marginal. Over the last two decades the devolution process has shifted the main responsibility for housing policy from the state to the regions, in a period of growing demand of socially rented houses. In this context regional governments have tried to reform the public housing sector to increase its efficiency. This article analyses the development of the housing policy in Tuscany, focusing on the implementation of a regional reform of the late 1990s in the Province of Pisa. By doing so, this work shows how new policy ideas and old institutional practices interacted and shaped the elements of change and continuity which characterise this sector.
In the last decade, one of the major veins in political science has been the development of empir... more In the last decade, one of the major veins in political science has been the development of empirical researches on the impact of public funding on political competition. To a lesser extent, academic debate has focused on the effects of political finance regimes on party organisations. In this respect, scholars have hypothesised the existence of a relationship between the increasing need for public funding and a progressive shift of internal power from the Party in Central Office to the Party in Public Office, at the expense of the Party on the Ground. The aim of this article is to test this hypothesis by analysing the evolution of budget and organisation of four Italian political parties (Pds-Ds, Ppi-Dl, Fi, An) from 1994 to 2004: what we expect to find is a massive need for public subsidies to survive environmental changes accompanied by a tendency to centralisation of power within their organisations.
Modern Italy, 2010
... Spanish relationship were used in a practical fashion by the parliamentary opposition as ... ... more ... Spanish relationship were used in a practical fashion by the parliamentary opposition as ... two international agreements signed by the two countries (a developmental cooperation plan and ... congreso.es/public_oficiales/L7/CORT/BOCG/A/CG_A288.PDF ERI (Elcano Royal Institute ...
During the past decades sustainable development has become one of the most diffused policy paradi... more During the past decades sustainable development has become one of the most diffused policy paradigms among international actors, national and subnational governments. While the general consensus around this idea increased rapidly, substantive policies at all levels remained largely on paper. The gap between official commitments and practice can be explained by considering: a) the theoretical weaknesses of the paradigm; b) the political and institutional difficulties in the integration of socio-economic and environmental policies. The Italian case represents a clear example of how the institutionalization of such a policy paradigm risks to produce only symbolic or expressive outputs. The aim of this paper is to reconstruct the dynamics of the process of institutionalization of the paradigm in Italy by focusing on two regional experiences, those of Tuscany and Veneto.
Books by Eugenio Pizzimenti
A quasi quaranta anni di distanza dall'emergere della questione ambientale nell'alveo delle liber... more A quasi quaranta anni di distanza dall'emergere della questione ambientale nell'alveo delle liberaldemocrazie occidentali, la politica verde si presenta oggi come una realtà. Tuttavia, come più volte sostenuto dalle organizzazioni internazionali e dalla comunità scientifica, il bilancio dei risultati ottenuto non è considerato soddisfacente. Soprattutto in termini di politiche pubbliche, alla ecologizzazione del dibattito politico, delle istituzioni, dell'economia e della società civile non sembra essere corrisposta una contropartita efficace a livello di strategie e di interventi rivolti al perseguimento dei suoi principali obiettivi. Il presente volume si propone di ricostruire i processi attraverso i quali uno dei più noti paradigmi del pensiero ecologico il paradigma dello sviluppo sostenibile è stato assorbito e rielaborato nel sistema politico-istituzionale italiano, dal 1992 ad oggi. Rispetto agli altri paesi, in Italia il cammino in direzione di un modello più sostenibile di sviluppo è stato fin qui contrassegnato da ritardi, fraintendimenti e incertezze, ma anche da iniziative di spessore e all'avanguardia, che non hanno però avuto continuità nel tempo.
Chapters in book by Eugenio Pizzimenti
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Articles and papers by Eugenio Pizzimenti
Books by Eugenio Pizzimenti
Chapters in book by Eugenio Pizzimenti
and Mair already noticed in their well-known (and criticized) article on the emergence of the cartel party, a
clear separation between parties and public institutions has never been completely achieved, in the evolution
of liberal democracies. In contrast, while parties act as agencies of institutionalization, public institutions recognize
(de jure or de facto) parties as the legitimate actors of political representation. From this perspective,
it is worth considering party change as a process intertwined also with institutional change. To date, however,
the analysis of such a relationship has been neglected by political scientists, who have privileged explanations
of party change based on other factors, whether at systemic or at a micro level. By avoiding a priori
assumptions about causality, our main research question is the following: is it possible to identify patterns of
co-evolution between State institutions – more specifically, public administration – and party organizations?
Building on a new institutional approach to organization theory, the aim of this article is to investigate to
what extent the evolution in the size of party organizations and in the size of public administration has followed
similar trajectories. Our study focuses on the United Kingdom and Italy, from 1950 to 2010. Our
findings confirm that parties’ external face expands when public spending and the number of public
employees increase, and vice-versa. The same holds for parties’ internal face, at least in the Italian case.