ABSTRACT

This account assesses the relevance of the principal party and electoral changes of the 1990s for the functioning of the Italian party system. Focusing on the interactive structures of the party system, it evaluates change in four dimensions: the number of units constituting the system; interaction between those units; the distribution of their electorates; and the prevalent dynamics of competition. This analysis demonstrates how much the Italian party system has changed in the 1990s and how exactly it differs from the system which characterised the first 50 years of the Republic.