Brand New, Somewhat New or Rather Old? : The Italian Legislative Process in an Age of Alternation

This special issue of ‘South European Society & Politics’ explores the transformation of Italy’s law-making process, and presents fresh data and a series of original analyses, with regard to four key topics: the role played by the bicameral structure of parliament; the effects and dynamics of the amendment process; the overall level of consensualism in the adoption of most bills; and finally, the more adversarial, complex nature of the budgetary process. Here, we offer a brief introduction to the Italian legislative process during the 1996-2006 decade, as a framework for subsequent in-depth analyses, followed by the reasons for our choice of topics for discussion.