The Italian Agendas Project

Abstract

Since the beginning of its Republican history, the Italian political system has functioned according to two rather different logics. From 1948 to 1994 the Christian Democratic Party was uninterruptedly in office, often in coalition, while the Communist Party remained the major opposition party. After the collapse of these parties, a new system based on the alternation between a centre-right and a centre-left coalition emerged. To date the Italian Policy Agendas Project has released six datasets covering party manifestos, parliamentary questions, investiture speeches, laws, decrees, and budgetary data. Through their analysis, it is possible to assess the elements of stability and change that characterized Italian politics since the mid-eighties as well as some recent evolutions such as the mediatization and personalization of politics, the crisis of mainstream parties, and the advent of anti-establishment and populist parties as key actors of the system.