Lineages and family resemblances: tracing the Italian DC vote after 1994

The Christian Democracy – Democrazia Cristiana (Dc) constituted the center of gravity in Italian post-war politics. The party collapsed after 1992, due to long-term changes in Italian society and the eruption of the Clean Hands investigation on political corruption. The Dc lost more than half of its vote in the 1994 elections: where did they go? Our answer highlights the effects of modernization and secularization as key causes in regional variations on the Dc vote and on the vote of the parties claiming a lineage from the Dc, either truly Dc-legacy parties (Ppi, Ccd, Cdu, Daisy, Udc), or new comers on the centre-right (Fi and Lega), or finally the last by-products of the party system transformation (Pd and PdL). Second we consider which parties could advocate the more direct lineage from the DC. Finally we analyse the differences in these dynamics as we move from national level to the geopolitical regional level.