Journal Articles

Kirchheimer Italian Style: Catch-All Parties or Catch-All Blocs

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In this article, I use the Italian case to demonstrate that Kirchheimer’s catch-all thesis can be applied in various ways. Unlike parties in many European nations, Italian parties did not undergo a catch-all transformation in the post-war period. However, after the parties and party system were dramatically reformed in the 1990s, some catch-all characteristics — with clarifications — in Italy are in evidence. Specifically, an important distinction needs to be made between what Kirchheimer called a ‘catch-all party’ and what we may refer to as a ‘catch-all bloc’. The catch-all party is a single party that aims to capture as much of the vote as it can, oftentimes by converging its policy preferences on the centre political space. The catch-all bloc is a group of individual parties, catch-all or not, that agrees in advance to collaborate, and behaves, collectively, as a catch-all party. This important distinction helps us understand changes in the Italian party system over time and shows that Kirchheimer’s ideas — though modified — still have relevance in modern-day Italian politics.

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Detail Information

Series Title

Party Politics

Call Number

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Publisher

Thousand Oaks, CA : Sage Publication., 2009

Collation

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Language

English

ISBN/ISSN

1354-0688

Classification

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Content Type

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Media Type

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Carrier Type

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Edition

Vol. 15, No. 5, September 2009.pp. 573-591

Subject(s)

Party Systems
Italy
catch-all parties
Party change/adaptation
KIRCHHEIMER ITALIAN STYLE

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