Italian Populism and Constitutional Law

This edited volume explores the relationship between constitutionalism and populism in the Italian context. Italian populism is of interest to comparative lawyers for many reasons. Firstly, the country has a long-lasting tradition of anti-parliamentarism over the course of its history as a unitary state. After the 2018 general election, it has turned into the first European country in which two self-styled populist parties formed a coalition government. Although it collapsed in August 2019, many issues that it had raised remain. Secondly, as Italy is a founding member of the European Communities, the constitutional implications of populist politics have to be considered not only within the national framework but also in a wider context. This book argues that the relationship between populism and constitutionalism should not be seen in terms of mutual exclusion and perfect opposition. Indeed, populism frequently relies on concepts and categories belonging to the language of constitutionalism (majority, democracy, people), offering a kind of constitutional counter-narrative.

Giacomo Delledonne is Research Fellow in Comparative Public Law at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. He is co-convenor of the research group on Subnational Constitutions of the International Association of Constitutional Law. He has written extensively in four languages (Italian, English, French, and Spanish). His first monograph, L'omogeneità costituzionale negli ordinamenti composti (2017), was awarded with the 10th Opera Prima-Sergio P. Panunzio Prize, organized by the Italian Association of Constitutional Law Scholars.
Giuseppe Martinico is Associate Professor of Comparative Public law at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy. Previously he was García Pelayo Fellow at the Centro de Estudios Politicos y Constitucionales (CEPC), Madrid, and Max Weber Fellow at the European University Institute, Florence. He is also Honorary Professor at the University of Henan, China, and Research Fellow at the Centre for Studies on Federalism, Turin.
Matteo Monti is a researcher in the Faculty of Law at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, Italy.
Fabio Pacini is Research Fellow in Constitutional Law at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna, Pisa, and Adjunct Professor of Comparative Law at the Tuscia University, Italy. He coordinates a research group on parliamentary law at the Scuola Superiore Sant'Anna.

“The authors of this excellent book, dealing with more democratic, ‘true’ populism, convincingly argue that the constitutional developments in the last decades in Italy have been compatible with the ideals of constitutionalism despite the populist arguments and failed reforms.” (Gábor Halmai, Zeitschrift für öffentliches Recht, Vol. 75, 2020)

“Having analyzed the chapters, all well written and structured, one can only applaud the effort, brilliantly successful, of the authors to examine, in a timely and thorough manner, what has been the impact of populism on our constitutional system.” (Ferdinando La Placa, Forum di Quaderni Costituzionali, Issue 2, 2020)

“The tension between populism and constitutionalism deserves particular attention with respect to the Italian context, where various types of populist parties have already flourished notwithstanding an enduring resistance of the constitutional tradition. This book explores the issue from a variety of perspectives, and affords a thorough account of the challenges that constitutional principles are currently facing in the country.” (Cesare Pinelli, Member of the European Commission for Democracy through Law, and Full Professor of Constitutional Law, Sapienza University of Rome, Italy)

“This is, at the moment, the best book on the relationship between constitutionalism and populism in the Italian context: yet another achievement of an impressive group of talented scholars.” (Oreste Pollicino, Full Professor of Constitutional Law, Bocconi University, Italy)