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Italy

A country in southern Europe occupying the Italian Peninsula and Sicily, Sardinia and smaller islands, unified into a single state in 1861 after centuries as a patchwork of independent city-states, kingdoms and papal territory.

Facts
Classification
Freedom Status
Electoral Democracy 1
Founding Year
1861 2
Italy
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Associated With

Why this is disputed. Whether Italy's history of frequent, often ideologically disparate coalition cabinets is better explained by Riker's minimum-winning-coalition theory or by later policy-proximity and portfolio-bargaining theories is a live dispute among coalition scholars. Italy's postwar record is cited on both sides: its coalitions have rarely been minimum winning in Riker's strict sense, which some read as evidence against the theory and others read as the predictable result of Italy's especially fragmented multiparty system.

Source Coalition Formation (SAGE Encyclopedia of Political Science)
Source Constitution of Italy (Wikipedia)

This source names Italy directly: "and later spread to Germany, Italy, South Korea and many other countries as an alternative to judicial review by an ordinary supreme court."

Source Hans Kelsen (Britannica)

This source names Italy directly: "The term covers both the authoritarian corporatism of Fascist Italy and Estado Novo Portugal, in which the state suppressed independent labor organizing and imposed the corporate structure from..."

Source Corporatism (Britannica)
Fascism, Ideologies

This source names Italy directly: "ideology and movement that emerged in Italy under Benito Mussolini, who became prime minister in 1922, establishing the first fascist state in Europe."

Source Fascism (EBSCO Research Starters)

This source names Italy directly: "Britannica's reference entry on Italy, used here for the country's unification and constitutional history."

Source Italy (Britannica)

This source names Italy directly: "Canada, Denmark, France, Iceland, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, the United Kingdom and the United States, on 4 April 1949 at the Departmental Auditorium in Washington, D.C."

Source Founding Treaty (NATO)

Italy adopted a modified constituency-based party-list system to reduce the number of parties.

Source Systems of Proportionality (Britannica)

Italy is named among PR-using countries and discussed further in the article's trends section.

Source Proportional Representation (Britannica)

This source names Italy directly: "on 18 April 1951 by Belgium, France, Italy, Luxembourg, the Netherlands and West Germany, and in force from 23 July 1952 until its fifty-year term expired on 23 July 2002, this treaty established..."

Source Treaty of Paris (1951) (Wikipedia)

Governed By

Source Giorgia Meloni (Wikipedia)

Practices

Source Constitutional amendment (Wikipedia)
Source Italy (Britannica)

Shaped By

Benito Mussolini, Political Figures

Mussolini's Fascist dictatorship, 1922 to 1943, and its collapse in the Second World War directly shaped the postwar Italian Republic's 1948 constitution, deliberately designed with a weak executive and a highly fragmented, proportional electoral system to prevent the recurrence of one-man rule.

Source Benito Mussolini (History.com)
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Also in Economics Atlas: a member of this subject.

Also in Economics Atlas: a member of this subject.

Sources
1. Freedom House: Italy (Freedom in the World 2025)
Freedom HouseOverview, Global Freedom Score 87/100 (free)
Quote, Overview, Global Freedom Score 87/100 (free)
Italy's parliamentary system features competitive multiparty elections.
View the Source
2. Italy (Britannica)
Coalition Formation (SAGE Encyclopedia of Political Science)
SAGE PublicationsAssociated With: Coalition FormationView the Source
Benito Mussolini (History.com)
A&E Television Networks (History.com)Shaped By: Benito MussoliniView the Source
Giorgia Meloni (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationGoverned By: Meloni Government, Lead section, opening sentence
Quote, Governed By: Meloni Government, Lead section, opening sentence
is an Italian politician who has served as Prime Minister of Italy since October 2022
View the Source
Constitution of Italy (Wikipedia)
Wikimedia FoundationAssociated With: Constitution of Italy, Introduction
Quote, Associated With: Constitution of Italy, Introduction
The Constitution of the Italian Republic was ratified on 22 December 1947 by the Constituent Assembly.
View the Source
Constitutional amendment (Wikipedia)
Practices: Constitutional Amendment, Article text
Quote, Practices: Constitutional Amendment, Article text
Article 138 of the Constitution provides for the special procedure through which the Parliament can adopt constitutional laws (including laws to amend the Constitution of Italy).
View the Source
Brothers of Italy (CIA World Factbook archive, Italy)
Encompasses: Brothers of Italy, Government: parties
Quote, Encompasses: Brothers of Italy, Government: parties
Coalition Brothers of Italy (FdI) - Lega - Forza Italia - Us Moderates (Noi moderati, NM) (237); Democratic Party - Democratic and Progressive Italy (PD-IDP) - Greens and Left Alliance (AVS) - +EUROPA" - Civic Commitment (IC) (84); Five Star Movement (M5s) (52); Action - Italia Viva (21); Other (6)
View the Source
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