ABSTRACT
Italy’s Green movement presents the political analyst with a paradox. On the one hand, the limited national electoral success of its national political wing-the Liste Verdi-and the abysmal record of environmental protection in Italy would suggest that ecologism has had little effect, either on public opinion or government policy. On the other hand, there is substantial evidence of a diffused and sporadic impact of both protectionistconservative and social-political ecologism on Itaiian politics and society. Such evidence includes the growing role of ecologists in local and regional government, the cancellation of Italy’s nuclear energy programme via popular referendum, the collapse of a governing coalition which tried partially to reverse that decision, the closure or relocation of a large number of polluting industrial plants, a proliferation of environmental laws and decrees, the creation of a new Environment Ministry in the mid-1980s, an acceptance of environmentalist principles by large parts of the trades union movement and a redefinition of politics on both the ‘old’ and the ‘new’ Italian left (Ceri 1990).
