Primaries, parties, people

Abstract

Italian primary elections are a successful instance of institutional imitation and adaptation. This article argues that, as practised by the Democratic Party, they have contributed to greater transparency of the procedures through which candidates for public office are selected. They have solicited more participation and have been highly attractive to the media. Though often criticized, and though not yet fully understood in terms of their impact, they have been a stable feature of the Democratic Party for more than 10 years. A return to the past seems inconceivable, but improvements to the rules and procedures are possible and advisable.

Keywords:

• Institutional imitation
• intra-party democracy
• participation
• primary bonus/penalty
• personalization of politics
• Democratic Party

Disclosure statement

I have been a convinced sponsor and a steadfast supporter of primaries in Italy.

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Gianfranco Pasquino

Gianfranco Pasquino is Professor Emeritus of Political Science, University of Bologna. Author of many books, the most recent ones being Partiti, istituzioni, democrazie (Il Mulino 2014) and Cittadini senza scettro. Le riforme sbagliate (Egea-UniBocconi 2015), he has also recently been co-editor of the Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics (Oxford 2015).