In chapter 1 I described how the Italian political system might be understood as a specific variant within the family of Western European policy processes, with their emphasis on structured interaction among a number of groups, bounded by institutional continuities. This interaction is determined by differing levels of resources, by variations in forms of dependence, and by the different impact of strategies, rules and processes of exchange. To summarise the discussion in the chapters which followed, in Italy this complex interaction:

a) follows a pattern of distribution of resources broadly established in earlier regimes; b) is sanctioned by a constitutional system which emphasises formal law and

representational pluralism; c) is mediated through a public administration which separates routine patronage from

substantial policy; d) depends on the permanence in office of the governing parties to maintain the stability

of the exchange values and to determine the outcomes of the barter in an orderly manner.