National Politics and Supranational Political Actors: Italian MEPs in the Second Republic.

This paper re-examines some of the assumptions of the Europeanization literature by suggesting that it might be possible for domestic political events to have a direct influence on supranational political organizations. This possibility is addressed through an analysis of the impact that the dramatic political reform of the Italian party system in the 1990s had on the primary home of political party action in the EU, the European Parliament. The goal is to determine the extent to which the transformation of the Italian political party system impacted the party system of the EP through an analysis of EP party group voting unity and the additional impact that these events may have had on the political roles and influence of Italian MEPs within the EP through an examination of the allocation committee chairmanships and rapporteurships across time. The results are in many ways counterintuitive and suggest that the norms and rules that structure the supranational institutions may be hardier and more resistant to shock than currently assumed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]