The objective of the course is to provide us with the tools to better understand the current Italian political system and the social and economic factors that underlie it.

Few countries offer more challenging and interesting hunting grounds to students of politics, history and sociology. This course will be a journey through a landscape marked by the footprints of giants who founded the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire, of geniuses who gave us medieval and renaissance art, Italian opera and literature. This same landscape shows the scars of foreign occupation and internal conflicts, two world wars and fascism, organized crime and home-grown terrorism, bureaucratic inefficiency and corruption.  The purpose of this journey is to explore the Italian political landscape and identify some of the social, economic and political forces that shape it.

While the course’s primary focus will be on contemporary Italian politics, in order to understand the latter we will need to familiarize ourselves with recent Italian history, as well as with some of the peculiar characteristics of the Italian economy and Italian society: 

1. In our quick historical review we will look at the creation of Italy as a unified state in 1861; the liberal state and its collapse after World War I; Fascism and Word War II; the establishment of the Italian Republic and the ratification of the Republican Constitution; the post-war years and the cold war; the so-called Second Republic born out of the clean hands investigations of the early 1990s and its bipolar political system. We will also try to gain a better understanding of current developments: Italy's response to the deepening sovereign debt crisis and the "technocratic government" that took office in November 2011. 
2. While exploring this historical background we will have an opportunity to study the impact of Italy’s changing demographics, social structure and culture, the importance of labor unions and the effect of Italy’s peculiar form of capitalism.
3. The political party system will be analyzed both as a product of the factors mentioned above as well as a force in itself that at times acts as a brake upon change and innovation, while at other times it creates opportunities for real change and modernization.

Through the readings and class discussions we hope we will achieve an understanding of Italian politics that will allow us to identify the principal political institutions and clarify the relationships between them, understand the role of social and economic forces, and elaborate plausible explanations of ongoing political developments in Italy.  In proposing and testing these explanations we will become familiar with some of the basic principles of the social science method as this is traditionally used in comparative politics. 

Assessment Guidelines for assigning main letter grades: A, B, C,D, and F.

A:  Work of this quality directly addresses the question or problem raised and provides a coherent argument displaying an extensiveknowledge of relevant information or content. This type of work demonstrates the ability to critically evaluate concepts and theory and has an element of novelty and originality. There is clear evidence of a significant amount of reading beyond that required for the course.

B:  This is highly competent level of performance and directly addresses the question or problem raised.

There is a demonstration of some ability to critically evaluatetheory and concepts and relate them to practice. Discussions reflect the student’s own arguments and are not simply a repetition of standard lecture andreference material. The work does not suffer from any major errors or omissions and provides evidence of reading beyond the required assignments.

C:  This is an acceptable level of performance and provides answers that are clear but limited, reflecting the information offered in the lectures and reference readings.

D:  This level of performances demonstrates that the student lacks a coherent grasp of the material.

Important information is omitted and irrelevant points included.In effect, the student has barely done enough to persuade the instructor that s/he should not fail.

F: This work fails to show any knowledge or understanding of the issues raised in the question. Most of the material in the answer is irrelevant.

ITALY AS A CASE STUDY IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS:

UNIT 1: Introduction to the Course
 -          Comparative Politics Today: A Theoretical Framework (5^th Edition), by Almond, Powell, Dalton & Strom (“CPT”), pp. 1-4

 
METHODS AND CONCEPTS USED IN COMPARATIVE POLITICS

UNIT 2: The Role of Governments, and Types of States
 -          CPT,  pp. 4-18

UNIT 3: Community Building, Economic and Social Development and Political and Civil Rights
-          CPT, pp. 19-37

UNIT 4: The Comparative Method
-          CPT, pp. 39-55

ITALY: HISTORICAL OVERVIEW

UNIT 5: From Italian Unity to the Collapse of the Liberal State
-          The Politics of Italy: Governance in a Normal Country, by James Newell (2010 Edition) (“POI”), pp. 9-19
-          A Concise History of Italy, by Christopher Duggan (2010 Edition) (“CHI”), pp. 195-204

UNIT 6: Fascism
-          CHI, all of Chapter 8.

UNIT 7: The Fall of Fascism and the Birth of the Italian Republic
-          POI, pp. 19-25
-          Modern Italy, by John Foot (2003 edition) (“MOI”), pp. 66-69 (Boxes 2.4, 2.5, 2.6, 2.7), and pp.77-86

UNIT 8: The First Republic (1946-1992)
-          POI, pp. 25-31
-          “Political Development” by Gianfranco Pasquino, pp. 69-80, in Italy Since 1945, edited by Patrick McCarthy (2000 Edition) (“IS 1945”).

UNIT 9: The Second Republic (1992-2012)
-          “Political Development” by Giovanni Pasquino, pp. 80-94, in “IS 1945”
-          POI, pp. 31-47

THE ITALIAN POLITICAL SYSTEM

UNIT 10: Parliament, the Council of Ministers and the President of the Republic
-          Italian Politics: Adjustment Under Duress, by Martin Bull and James Newell  (2008 Edition) (ItaPol), Chapter 7.

UNIT 11: The Judiciary and the Italian Bureaucracy
-          ItaPol, Chapter 8

UNIT 12: MIDTERM EXAM

UNIT 13: Italian Parties
-          ItaPol, Chapter 3 (pp. 39-63)

UNIT 14: Italian “Federalism”
-          POI, pp. 61-64 and 79-95

UNIT 15: Italian Foreign Policy
-          POI, Chapter  10

ITALIAN SOCIETY

UNIT 16: Italian Political Culture
-          POI, pp. 145-164

UNIT 17: Italian Political Culture II
-          POI, pp. 164-178
-          Selected readings

UNIT 18: Italian Interest Groups
-          POI 179-202

THE ITALIAN ECONOMY

UNIT 19: Evolution of the Italian Economy:
-          “Evolution of the Economy” by Vera Zamagni, Chapter 2 of “IS 1945”, pp. 42-68

UNIT 20: Economic Policy Priorities and the Current Financial Crisis
-          Selected readings

UNIT 21: FINAL EXAM