An italic obsession: electoral reforms

The history of Italy is plenty of reforms of the electoral system. Many are those implemented since the country’s unification: from the majority system to the limited vote, from proportional representation to the majority premium in the liberal era; and, again, in the Republican era, the return to p...

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Main Author: Alessandro Chiaramonte
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Firenze University Press 2020-07-01
Series:QOE-IJES
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Online Access:https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/9528
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author Alessandro Chiaramonte
author_facet Alessandro Chiaramonte
author_sort Alessandro Chiaramonte
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description The history of Italy is plenty of reforms of the electoral system. Many are those implemented since the country’s unification: from the majority system to the limited vote, from proportional representation to the majority premium in the liberal era; and, again, in the Republican era, the return to proportional representation and then the use of mixed systems, combining PR with plurality or majority premium. And many other are the reforms which, discussed and sometimes even approved, as in the case of the italicum, have remained dead letter or never saw the light. What explains this Italic obsession with the electoral systems? Why have their reforms been on the parties’ and governments’ political agenda for so long? The goal of this article is to answer these questions. In the end, electoral reforms have played as instruments of coordination and adaptation in the political strategies pursued by the parties in specific time periods and also as substitute instruments of institutional engineering in the absence of broader agreements on major constitutional reforms.
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spelling doaj-art-8a48e0d5d6a544a28c98990bcb36f9a32025-08-20T03:51:09ZengFirenze University PressQOE-IJES0392-67532724-46792020-07-0183110.36253/qoe-9528An italic obsession: electoral reformsAlessandro Chiaramonte0Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Florence, ItalyThe history of Italy is plenty of reforms of the electoral system. Many are those implemented since the country’s unification: from the majority system to the limited vote, from proportional representation to the majority premium in the liberal era; and, again, in the Republican era, the return to proportional representation and then the use of mixed systems, combining PR with plurality or majority premium. And many other are the reforms which, discussed and sometimes even approved, as in the case of the italicum, have remained dead letter or never saw the light. What explains this Italic obsession with the electoral systems? Why have their reforms been on the parties’ and governments’ political agenda for so long? The goal of this article is to answer these questions. In the end, electoral reforms have played as instruments of coordination and adaptation in the political strategies pursued by the parties in specific time periods and also as substitute instruments of institutional engineering in the absence of broader agreements on major constitutional reforms. https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/9528Electoral reformselectoral engineeringSecond RepublicItaly
spellingShingle Alessandro Chiaramonte
An italic obsession: electoral reforms
QOE-IJES
Electoral reforms
electoral engineering
Second Republic
Italy
title An italic obsession: electoral reforms
title_full An italic obsession: electoral reforms
title_fullStr An italic obsession: electoral reforms
title_full_unstemmed An italic obsession: electoral reforms
title_short An italic obsession: electoral reforms
title_sort italic obsession electoral reforms
topic Electoral reforms
electoral engineering
Second Republic
Italy
url https://oaj.fupress.net/index.php/qoe/article/view/9528
work_keys_str_mv AT alessandrochiaramonte anitalicobsessionelectoralreforms
AT alessandrochiaramonte italicobsessionelectoralreforms