XXIX CONVEGNO DELLA SOCIETA’ ITALIANA DI SCIENZA POLITICA. Arcavacata di Rende Cosenza, September 10-12, 2015 Panel 10.2: Dalle elezioni alle istituzioni regionali: come cambia la classe politica regionale? Chairs: Maurizio Cerruto and Selena Grimaldi Discussant: Luca Verzichelli Selena Grimaldi
[email protected] The political class of the Veneto region. Access, circulation and career from 1970 to 2010 Abstract: The Veneto has been depicted as an economic giant as well as a political dwarf, as the economic model of the Veneto emerged and flourished without any political planning or perhaps because of its absence. Starting from these considerations, this paper deals with the characteristics of the regional political class, pointing out three crucial moments in the process of consolidation of the political elite: the entrance to the pool of regional politicians, the circulation in the regional Assembly and regional government recruitment on the basis of an original dataset. The paper analyzes nine legislatures which are here divided into two phases (1970-1990 and 1995-2010) to make the impact that the political earthquake of the Nineties had on the regional political class clear. Did the collapse of the party system and the changes to the electoral rules produce a real change or just an adaptation in the nature of the political class? Keywords: political class, regional recruitment, political career, regional leadership 1 1. The Regionalization Process in Italy and the Regional Elite Democratization and regionalization were not parallel