Party Organisational Change in Italy (1991-2006)

This article analyses the organisational change in Italian political parties since 1990 with the aim of finding evidence in favour or against the widespread view in the literature that organisational resources, and hence power, are becoming more and more concentrated in the hands of party and/or parliamentary leaders, and that there is a corresponding decline in the territorial presence of parties. The account made here of the evolution of Italian parties follows quite closely Katz and Mair’s approach by analysing separately their three organisational faces and observing their characteristics and change over time face by face. Trends in membership, finances, staff and party statutes confirm to a large extent the overall research hypothesis.