The article investigates the power relationships within Italian political parties. Since Roberto Michels, the question of intra-party power relationships has been at the centre of political science and political sociology. Most of the contemporary research interprets the intra-party disequilibrium between leadership and followers as a question of internal democracy. Rather than concentrating on this aspect, our perspective emphasises the skewed distribution of power between different hierarchical levels of the political party. Focusing upon the formal rules concerning organizational structure, personnel selection procedures and party finance, the contribution analyses the level of “verticalization” in the intra-party distribution of power between the national and the sub-national level, with respect to the main Italian parties from 1994 to 2012.
The Reins of Intra-Party Power in The Italian Political Parties (1990-2011)
PIZZIMENTI, EUGENIO
2014-01-01
Abstract
The article investigates the power relationships within Italian political parties. Since Roberto Michels, the question of intra-party power relationships has been at the centre of political science and political sociology. Most of the contemporary research interprets the intra-party disequilibrium between leadership and followers as a question of internal democracy. Rather than concentrating on this aspect, our perspective emphasises the skewed distribution of power between different hierarchical levels of the political party. Focusing upon the formal rules concerning organizational structure, personnel selection procedures and party finance, the contribution analyses the level of “verticalization” in the intra-party distribution of power between the national and the sub-national level, with respect to the main Italian parties from 1994 to 2012.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
