The goal of this article is to assess changes in the candidate selection methods in Italy starting from elections of 1994, when the selection process dominated by party has failed, and new recruitment techniques emerged both at national and regional level. This article provides an overview of intraparty candidate selection methods occurring at two levels analyzing formal rules and survey data on attitudes held by middle-level party elite (national) and councilors (regional). Has there been a real democratization (in terms of more inclusiveness and more decentralization) of the candidates’ selection? How effective is the selection process on gender representation? The findings show that national elite has a strong hold on party recruitment despite the introduction of democratic procedures in the candidate selection for public office and leadership of some parties; at regional level, individual representation acquires a powerful role in comparison with party representation.
BaldiniG.VassalloS. (2000, May). Elezioni, assemblee e governi regionali, 1947-2000 [Election, regional assembly and government, 1947-2000]. Rivista di studi giuridici e politici, pp. 3-4.
2.
BardiL.IgnaziP.MassariO. (2007). I partiti italiani. Iscritti, dirigenti, eletti [Italian parties. Party members, party elites and elected officials]. Milano, Italy: Egea-Bocconi.
3.
BilleL. (2001). Democratizing a democratic procedure: Myth or reality? Candidate selection in western European parties, 1960-1990. Party Politics, 7, 363-380.
4.
BrunelliG. (2006). Donne e politica [Women and politics]. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
5.
CartyR. K. (2004). Parties as franchise systems. Party Politics, 10, 5-24.
6.
CerrutoM. (2013). La classe politica regionale [The regional political class]. In VassalloS. (Ed.), Il divario incolmabile [The unbridgeble gap] (pp. 89-108). Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
7.
CerrutoM.RanioloF. (2013). Competizione politica [Political competition]. In MorlinoL.PianaD.RanioloF. (Eds.), La qualità della democrazia in Italia [The quality of democracy in Italy] (pp. 57-75). Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
CottaM. (1979). Classe politica e Parlamento in Italia 1946-1976 [Political class and parliament in Italy 1946-1976]. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
10.
CottaM.VerzichelliL. (1996). La classe politica italiana: cronaca di una morte annunciata [The Italian political class: Chronicle of a Death Foretold]. In CottaM.IserniaP. (Eds.), Il gigante dai piedi di argilla [The Gaint With Feet of Clay] (pp. 373-408). Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
11.
Di VirgilioA.GiannettiD. (2011). I nuovi partiti italiani e la selezione dei candidati: gli orientamenti dei delegati congressuali [New italian parties and candidates selection: attitudes among middle level party elites]. Polis, 25, 205-234.
12.
FabrizioD.FeltrinP. (2007). L’uso del voto di preferenza: una crescita continua [The spread of preferential vote]. In ChiaramenteA.Tarli BarbieriG. (Eds.), Riforme istituzionali e rappresentanza politica nelle Regioni italiane [Institutional reforms and political representation in italian regions] (pp. 175-199). Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
13.
FedeleM. (1988). Autonomia politica regionale e sistema dei partiti [Regional autonomy and party system] (3rd ed., Vol. 2). Milano, Italy: Giuffrè.
14.
FloridiaA. (2008). “Scendere in campo”: l’accesso alla competizione elettorale tra barriere formali e incentivi politici [“Take the field”: the access to electoral competition between formal constrains and political incentives]. In AlimonteR. D.FusaroC. (Eds.), La legislazione elettorale italiana [Electoral legislation in Italy] (pp. 69-109). Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
15.
GallagherM.MarshM. (1988). Candidate selection in comparative perspective. London, England: Sage.
16.
HazanR. Y. (2006). Metodi di selezione dei candidati: le conseguenze delle elezioni interne ai partiti [Candidates selection]. In BardiL. (Ed.), Partiti e sistemi di partito [Parties and party system] (pp. 171-196). Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
17.
KatzR. S.MairP. (1993). The evolution of party organizations in Europe: The three faces of party organization. American Review of Politics, 14, 593-618.
18.
KrouwelA. (2012). Party transformations in European democracies. Albany: State University of New York Press.
19.
LanzoneM. E. (2013, September). Le “Parlamentarie” dell’M5s: un nuovo metodo di selezione? Uno studio empirico su (s)elettori e candidati [The online primary elections for parliamentary candidates by the Five Star Movement (M5s): a new method of selection?an empirical study on (s)electors and candidates]. Paper presented at the XXVII Conference SISP, University Centre of Social Sciences, Florence, Italy.
20.
LijphartA. (2014). Le democrazie contemporanee [Patterns of democracy]. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
21.
MastropaoloA. (1993). Il ceto politico: Teoria e pratiche [The political elite: theory and practice]. Rome, Italy: NIS.
22.
MorlinoL.PianaD.RanioloF. (2013). La qualità della democrazia in Italia [The quality of democracy in Italy]. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
23.
PasquinoG. (2014). Partiti, istituzioni, democrazie [Parties, institutions and democracies]. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
24.
PizzornoA. (2000). La politica post-elettorale e il ruolo dei partiti. In LanchesterF. (Ed.), Finanziamento della politica e corruzione [The post-electoral politics in Italy: the role of parties in Financing of political parties and corruption] (pp. 231-238). Milano, Italy: Giuffrè.
25.
PorcellatoN.ValbruzziM. (2013, September). La finestra sul cortile segreto della politica: le elezioni primarie per i parlamentari di Pd, Sel e M5s [Rear window in the segret garden of politics: primary elections for parlamentary candidates in the Pd, Sel and M5s]. Paper presented at the XXVII Conference SISP, University Centre of Social Sciences, Florence, Italy.
26.
PutnamR. D. (1993). La tradizione civica nelle regioni italiane [Making democracy work: the civic tradition in modern Italy]. Milano, Italy: Mondadori.
27.
RahatG.HazanR. Y. (2001). Candidate selection methods: An analytical framework. Party Politics, 7, 297-322.
28.
RanioloF. (2013). I partiti politici [Political parties]. Rome, Italy: Laterza.
29.
SartoriG. (1963). Dove va il Parlamento? [Where does the parliament go?] In SartoriG. (Ed.), Il Parlamento italiano 1946-1963 [The Italian Parliament 1946-1963] (pp. 323-341). Naples, Italy: ESI.
30.
SartoriG. (1987). The theory of democracy revisited. Chatham, NJ: Chatham House.
31.
ValbruzziM. (2011). Primarie [Primaries]. In AlmagistiM.PianaD. (Eds.), Le parole chiave della politica italiana [The key concepts of italian politics] (pp. 283-300). Rome, Italy: Carocci.
32.
VassalloS. (2013). Il divario incolmabile [The unbridgeble gap]. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
33.
VassalloS.CerrutoM. (2007). Come (non) cambia la classe politica regionale [How is (not) changing the regional elite?]. In ChiaramonteA.Tarli BarbieriG. (Eds.), Riforme istituzionali e rappresentanza politica nelle Regioni italiane [Institutional reforms and political representation in the Italian regions] (pp. 201-220). Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
34.
VerzichelliL. (2010). Vivere di politica [Living off politics]. Bologna, Italy: Il Mulino.
35.
WertmanD. A. (1988). Italy: Local involvement, central control. In GallagherM.MarshM. (Eds.), Candidate selection in comparative perspective (pp. 145-168). London, England: Sage.
