Agenda Setting, Policies, and Political Systems

Italy underwent a major political upheaval at the beginning of the 1990s. The then 40 year-old party system shifted from a case of polarised multipartism to one of bipolar alternation. Given this peculiar conditions, Italy represents an interesting case to study the effects of variation in party competition on the national legislative agenda, other factors remaining relatively constant. The background assumption is that in the new system of alternation, Italian governing parties have more incentives to enact laws in areas which receive greater emphasis in their policy platform, so as to comply with their electoral mandate. This chapter explores the party-policy link by analysing the correspondence between the legislative agenda (adopted laws) and the party agenda publicized during electoral campaigns (political manifestos of winning coalition/parties). The study covers a period of 24 years (1983-2006), during which 6 national elections were held.