Is it possible to make sense of a political system where 123 people, each from different parties, can run for a single seat in parliament? This volume studies this contemporary Italian political system. Through an analysis of the system, the author explains party organization, formal government institutions--legislature, executive, judiciary, administrative, and sub-national--as well as the impact of the European Community on the national political system. He includes with a discussion of recent reforms at both national and local levels, and assesses the debate on wider constitutional reform.
Industry Reviews
`well-informed and interesting ... Hine's style is both lucid and terse throughout ... Such an attempt at Italian politics is brave at this time of turbulence, and Hine has done a good job at explaining a system that is often confusing to non-specialists.'
Geoffrey Pridham, Times Higher Education Supplement
`The appearance of Hine's book is a major event for both Italianists and scholars and students of comparative government, European or general ... there is, at last, an up-to-date basic literature for the study of Italian government and politics ... It remains only to confirm that this is an important book for students of contemporary government more generally, and that all with an interest in these areas will have to read it.'
ASMI Newsletter
`David Hine ... has made an impressive contribution to the debate in which jurists and academics have been engaged for the last ten years ... Governing Italy is a comphrensive analysis of the Italian political and institutional system ... Readers of Rivista should find this book rewarding.'
Rivista
`Hine's book is perfectly placed to fill a gap in good textbook coverage of Italian politics ... Governing Italy ... rectifies what has been a glaring imbalance in the study of contemporary Italy; the lack of proper attention to its formal institutional structures. The book is a landmark in this respect, and it is one which no Italianist - beginner or specialist - can afford to be without.'
West European Politics
`The best general textbook available for Italian politics.'
Dr John M. Foot, Churchill College, Cambridge