Policy Polarisation in Italy: The Short and Conflictual Life of the ‘Government of Change’ (2018-2019) ACCEPTED FOR PUBLICATION IN SOUTH EUROPEAN SOCIETY AND POLITICS Nicolò Conti, Unitelma Sapienza University of Rome,
[email protected] Andrea Pedrazzani, Department of Social and Political Science, University of Milan,
[email protected] (corresponding author) Federico Russo, Department of History, Society and Human Studies of the University of Salento,
[email protected] Abstract This paper uses the concept of policy polarisation to understand the short and conflictual life of the Conte I cabinet which remained in office in Italy from June 2018 to September 2019. We show how policy polarisation in parliament and between coalition parties shaped the formation and termination of the so-called ‘government of change’. When investigating the implementation of the government agenda, we also assess the role of the coalition contract as an (ineffective) institutional solution to problems stemming from policy divisions between the Five Star Movement and the Lega. We argue that, despite some policy accomplishments of the government, the Five Star Movement-Lega coalition appears more as a temporary experiment, whose legacy may not represent a new course of action. Keywords: Government coalition, Government agenda, Populism, Coalition agreement, Party manifestos, Parliamentary questions, Five Star Movement, Lega 1 Policy polarisation is a crucial factor influencing the entire life cycle of governments in contemporary democracies. It is not only a key aspect of party competition during the electoral campaign (Downs 1957; Sartori 1976). As the comparative literature has pointed out, polarisation which sets the two sides of the party system at polar opposites can also increase the complexity of the bargaining environment after the elections, thus delaying the formation of governments and affecting the type of cabinets eventually formed.