Federalising Italy: The convergent effects of Europeanisation and domestic mobilisation

Abstract:

In the popular referendum of 7 October 2001, the Italians approved a reform with a federalising thrust of their once unitary state (1948-70) which became a decentralised unitary state (after 1970). This significant outcome was the result of pressures from the process of Europeanisation and pressures from the mobilisation of the domestic regional political élite.

The effects of European integration were both direct and indirect. The effects of domestic mobilisation were connected with the institutional reforms which, introducing the direct election of municipal mayors and regional governors, created a new political élite endowed with personal legitimacy and willing to increase its power in relation to the national élite. This experience of constitutional reform shows that, in order to have the latter, external pressures have to be exploited by domestic actors with the capacity to turn their interests into domestic change.