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Much of the migration literature neglects the questions of why and how “native” alliesobstructactivism by immigrants and ethnic minorities. Left-wing organizations in particular are often assumed to be supportive of inclusion, and little research exists on the ways they have prevented the migrant population from having a voice in the political arena and from taking part in society as equals. Drawing on the critical theory literature, I introduce the concept ofpolitical racialization. This concept refers to mechanisms whereby political actors, in order to legitimize their work on immigration, have partially included immigrants in the political sphere, but in a relationship of “ethnic” or “racial” subordination. Through the analysis of 57 in-depth interviews with immigrant activists, I show how political racialization works within the Italian Left and how it contributes to marginalize the migrant population. I further explain how immigrant activists have challenged political racialization through their activism. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This article reflects on the relations between xenophobic parties and immigration policy in Italy. It argues that the salience of the Northern League (Lega Nord), the instability of the Italian party system and the recent transformation of Italy from an emigration country to an immigration country all contribute to Italy's difficulty in achieving a coherent immigration policy. Since the first comprehensive immigration policy emerged in 1998 with the Turco-Napolitano law, there have been six changes of government, with frequent oscillation between centre-right and centre-left coalitions. While the effects of these oscillations, particularly of the centre-right's effort to restrict immigrants’ rights and entry possibilities, have been dampened by the Italian courts and the European Union, it is still problematic to speak of an Italian model. Drawing on Carvalho's book, this article will address the effects of the Lega on creating and maintaining this policy imbalance. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Since the 1990s Italy's autonomous local governing bodies have experienced important changes in their powers and functions in ways that have been shaped by national and international developments. The two decades of Italy's ‘transition’ have seen structural changes in the system that enabled the country in the second half of the twentieth century to take a place at the centre of the world economic system. But the evidence of the last two decades indicates that the changes that have taken place do not constitute a transition, but reveal instead a country that in terms of its politics and the economy is living an extremely diversified and complex phase of its history. This essay explores these processes at the level of the provinces and local government, showing how their capacity to contribute, locally and nationally, to growth through increasing territorial competiveness has been hampered by uncertainties resulting from the reforms that have been introduced and by growing financial restrictions. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The Crisis of 2008/2009 brutally ruptured a fault line that had separated northern European countries and countries to the east, south and west. The trade deficits of the not-north of Europe rapidly reversed. This reversal came hand in hand with drastic increases in unemployment. The north's pre-crisis trade surpluses continued into the post-crisis era with Europe as a whole replacing China as the largest surplus bloc in the world. Unemployment in the north has also largely returned to pre-crisis levels. This fissure between the two parts of the continent exposed serious contradictions in the financial architecture of Europe. Some are design flaws fixable within the existing institutional framework and are being addressed. But these fixes cannot overcome the harm imposed by stretching a currency union over what remains a very diverse and disconnected continent. But while Italy was on the wrong side of the fissure, a closer look at the data reveals that it was not among the most critically wounded. Rather the crisis exacerbated problems that had been simmering in Italy for some time. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the Europeanisation of national pension systems in Denmark and Italy. Through the analytical framework of a ‘two-level’ game, it analyses pension reforms in the two countries, which, in the wake of the crisis, breached EU budgetary requirements, and shortly after reformed their pension systems. The EU affects pension reform in both cases, but in distinct ways. When Denmark’s economy was financially vulnerable, the EU’s excessive deficit procedure affected the decision to reform pensions indirectly, by triggering a rapid political decision to speed up a pension reform. By contrast, the Italian economy’s critical vulnerability and the consequent risk for the whole Eurozone led to a situation whereby the European actors entered the domestic political scene and thereafter more forcefully induced reforms. The findings from the two cases show that the EU’s role in pension reform has been significant during crises, but through interaction with domestic actors. Furthermore, from a theoretical perspective, the intervening variables – domestic and EMU vulnerability as well as EU and domestic politics – are crucial to understanding the reform decisions through two-level games. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

We depart from the argument that policy congruence between the national and the EU parties has a role in bridging the democratic deficit of the EU. We assess it for the difficult case of Italy, where the issue of parties' transnational affiliation is incredibly divisive, and the party system is in a state of flux. Using the EU Profiler data, we are able to show that its parties are remarkably congruent. Yet, we suggest that congruence might overestimate the parties' representative capacity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Italy is firmly in the grip of an austerity programme mandated by the European Union institutions, and executed by an unelected technocrat. This state of affairs is at once the result of the acute and unexpected crisis of the financial and economic integration of the eurozone, and an expression of the failures of the Italian political class. Although the euro crisis has been mishandled by European elites, Italy's long-term economic decline, and the inability of Italian party politicians to generate a sustainable coalition to address Italy's economic problems, hinders an exit from the crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article presents an overview of economic and political issues facing Italy in 2006, focusing on suggestions for policy reforms related to Italy's role and interests in the European Union (EU). Proposals include commitment to strengthening the euro currency, promotion of a multilateralist, rather than nationalist, international relations approach in the EU, and ratification of the EU Constitutional Treaty.