ABSTRACT
The theme change and continuity may have a certain platitudinous ring, but it nevertheless is especially applicable to the Italian political situation in the 1970s. This is because, while patterns of political development in the postwar period from the Cold War up to this decade evidenced a remarkable degree of continuity, different changes have profoundly affected political behaviour since the late 1960s. These changes are recognisable to the regular student of Italian affairs, but the object of an analytical study is to evaluate the intensity or depth of their impact, their exact significance and, if possible, their likely permanency. The main overall conclusion from looking at its development in the 1970s is that the Italian party system, unlike in earlier decades, can no longer be viewed as static, which had been a frequent observation or criticism of those writing on Italian politics before the 1970s.
