Matteo Renzi: A ‘Leftist Berlusconi’ for Italian politics?

PRESS RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE PUBLICATION WEDNESDAY 19th FEBRUARY, 2014 OXFORD, UK

------On 13 February, Matteo Renzi, the dynamic Mayor of Florence, overturned the incumbent Enrico Letta, with the aim of replacing him as prime minister of Italy within days without the calling of new elections. But who is Matteo Renzi? Α new article by Fabio Bordignon just published in South European Society and Politics presents the new leader’s political history, public narrative and style of communication. It argues that Renzi has revived the leadership model introduced to the Italian political scene by Silvio Berlusconi in the early 1990s. A post-ideological, anti-political and innovative type of leadership, which is highly effective in attracting electoral support and media attention. Yet a type of leadership that clashes with the cultural and organisational roots of the centre-left. If Renzi becomes the third non-elected prime minister of Italy in two and a half years, the question remains whether he can succeed in leading Italy out of its deep political and economic crisis. Read the full article for free now at http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/13608746.2014.887240 *Any views expressed in this Press Release are not those of the Taylor & Francis Group. ------About Taylor & Francis Group ------Taylor & Francis Group partners with researchers, scholarly societies, universities and libraries worldwide to bring knowledge to life. As one of the world’s leading publishers of scholarly journals, books, ebooks and reference works our content spans all areas of Humanities, Social Sciences, Behavioural Sciences, Science, and Technology and Medicine. From our network of offices in Oxford, New York, Philadelphia, Boca Raton, Boston, Melbourne, Singapore, Beijing, Tokyo, Stockholm, New Delhi and Johannesburg, Taylor & Francis staff provide local expertise and support to our editors, societies and authors and tailored, efficient customer service to our library colleagues. Elaine Roberts Marketing Executive, Area Studies Journals [email protected] Taylor & Francis Journals www.tandfonline.com