Author: Congrips

114th APSA Annual Meeting & Exhibition – Boston, August 30 – September 2, 2018

The CONGRIPS 2018 APSA Panel has adopted the APSA Conference Theme Statement, ‘Democracy and its Discontents’ for the Italian case. Italian democracy has been undergoing significant economic, social and political challenges in the past twenty years and especially in the past decade following the eruption of the economic crisis of 2008. This has a brought a variety of challenges to existing political parties, actors and institutions, and the emergence of new political forces which are challenging the status quo and traditional politics. There appears to be a deep-seated and continuing dissatisfaction on the part of the public with Italian politics, the party system and broader political system, as reflected in rising support for anti-establishment parties and increasing skepticism towards the European Union and reforms proposed by the existing political class. Italian politics, in short, seems to have become characterized chiefly by its discontents. CONGRIPS welcomes paper proposals on any aspects of these discontents: on the origins, nature and the impact of social, economic and political ideas, movements, parties, policies which contest established practices, parties and politics in Italy. The aim is bringing together a set of papers which together convey the richness and complexity of the politics of discontent in Italy today, which itself is a reflection of broader trends in Europe and beyond. Applications should be submitted via the APSA process.