ABSTRACT
This chapter looks at the double role of common electoral platforms in Italy: the role of informing voters about future government policies, and that of facilitating coalition decision-making. The overall conclusion of this study is that political leaders have not used common manifestoes in a very efficient way to fulfil the two functions cited above. First, the governments examined only fulfilled half of the most important pledges in their entirety – a proportion that includes certain laws which did not produce the desired outcome. Second, a significant majority of inter-party conflicts over issues included in the common manifestoes were not followed by a concrete resolution. Generally, the main problem of Italian governance (particularly where centre-left governments are concerned) has been the absence of a strong party that is able to coordinate intra-coalition bargaining and thus impose a commitment over the deals included in the programme.
