Anti-partyist sentiments and institutional resilience. Why Italian anti-party politicians did not produce institutional change in the 1990s

Abstract

At the start of the 1990s, a combination of domestic and international factors contributed to a rapid decline in legitimacy for the traditional political parties and growth of anti-party sentiments in Italy. Because of the strong connection between parties and Italian democratic institutions this also led to a decline in the legitimacy of these institutions, which created momentum for institutional reform. With the electoral victory of the anti-party coalition in 1994 hopes for additional reform were high. However, in 1998 very little reform had been achieved: rather than change the period consisted mostly of institutional resilience. By analysing parliamentary debates and using anti-party and historical institutionalist literature this study investigates the paradox of an electorally successful movement calling for institutional change and subsequent institutional resilience. It builds upon the distinction between those anti- partyists who oppose parties per se or in general and those who oppose only incumbent or specific parties. The analysis shows that their institutional effects are so different that it is debatable whether general and specific anti-partyism should be considered two variants of the same sentiment. Furthermore, it shows that institutional resilience is not only the result of pre- existing constraints and limited actor agency, but also of the existence of actors that seek continuity while actively masking as agents that desire change. This does not only explain the lack of institutional change in Italy but may also indicate the institutional effect of anti-party sentiments and politicians in other countries and periods.