{"product_id":"italy-a-contested-polity-9781138992733","title":"Italy - A Contested Polity","description":"\u003cp\u003e • Author(s): Martin Bull\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher: Taylor \u0026amp; Francis\u003cbr\u003e • Publisher Imprint: Routledge\u003cbr\u003e • BISAC: Political Process - General\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eDespite the promise of the new \"Second Republic\" launched in the early 1990s, Italy remains Europe's least well-governed country. Fifteen years ago, politicians on the take and mafiosi on the make were supposedly pushed aside by a new generation of reformers and crusading magistrates. However, in this new book a team of leading experts on Italy uncovers little real progress. Badly needed reforms have foundered on bickering between the parties and their ego-centric leaders. Both left and right-wing coalitions have been guilty of impeding the anti-corruption revolution. Little has been done to improve the quality of public expenditure: infrastructure and education systems remain shambolic, and decades of periodic devaluation and deficit spending have left the economy structurally weakened. Italy's politicians are not just masters of \u003cem\u003etrasformismo\u003c\/em\u003e (an ability to reinvent and present themselves anew to voters), but of \u003cem\u003estratificazione\u003c\/em\u003e, or \"layering\", the introduction of new policies and institutions without replacing those that preceded them. The result is a damaging mix of obsolete and contradictory legislation, the product of bargaining over reform by chronically weak governments in a veto-ridden polity. The outcome - \u003cem\u003eimmobilismo\u003c\/em\u003e - is a system in which all parties, and democratic government itself, are steadily losing legitimacy.\u003c\/p\u003e \u003cp\u003eThis book was published as a special issue of \u003cem\u003eWest European Politics\u003c\/em\u003e.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Taylor \u0026 Francis","offers":[{"title":"Paperback","offer_id":45237651079319,"sku":"9781138992733","price":4315.0,"currency_code":"INR","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0666\/3471\/1191\/files\/9781138992733.webp?v=1769217189","url":"https:\/\/atlanticbooks.com\/products\/italy-a-contested-polity-9781138992733","provider":"Atlantic Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}