Papers presented at PSA conference in Leicester, 2003

The following papers on Italian politics were presented at the PSA's Annual Conference, held in Leicester between the 15th and 17th April 2003.

Decentralisation Reforms in France and Italy
(panel organised in conjunction with the French Politics Specialist Group)

Chair: Robert Elgie (Dublin City)
Discussant: Charlie Jeffery (Birmingham)

• Alistair Cole (Cardiff): “Decentralisation in France: Back to Grass Roots or Steering at a Distance”.
• Paul Furlong (Cardiff): “The Constitutional Context of Reform in Italy”
• Susan Milner (Bath): “Urban governance and local democracy, a case study of Lille”

Italian Politics I: Party Politics at the National and Sub-National Levels

Chair: Jim Newell (Salford)
Discussant: Gianfranco Pasquino (Bologna)

• Simon Parker (York) & Duncan McDonnell (York): “Devolution or Neo-Centralism? Centre Left City Governments in Centre Right Regions: The Cases of Venice and Genoa”
• Vincenzo Arnone (Fucam, Belgium), Florence Terranova (Exeter) & Luca Blasi (La Sapienza): “Convergence and Divergence Among Political Coalitions: A Multi-Criteria Analysis applied to the Last Italian Elections”

Italian Politics II: the Second Berlusconi Government

Chair: Jim Newell (Salford)

• Gianfranco Pasquino (Bologna): “The Government, the Opposition and the President of the Republic Under Berlusconi”
• Osvaldo Croci (Memorial, Canada): “The Second Berlusconi Government and Italian Foreign Policy”
• Franca Roncarolo (Turin): “The use of communication as a political resource by Berlusconi”

Presidentialism in France and Italy
(panel organised in conjunction with the French Politics Specialist Group)

Chair: Robert Elgie (Dublin City)
Discussant: Paul Webb (Sussex)

• Ben Cliff (Brunel): “The Presidentialisation of the French Polity: Structural and Contingent”
• Mark Donovan (Cardiff): “Semi-presidentialism in Italy: From Taboo to Taboo”

Heading Towards Oblivion? Changing Fortunes of the Lega Nord

Chair: Mark Donovan (Cardiff)
Discussant: Jim Newell (Salford)

• Daniele Albertazzi (Christ Church, Canterbury): “Difference and Identity in the Lega’s Propaganda. Two Content Analyses”
• Benito Giordano (Manchester): “The Anatomy of Decline of the Lega Nord in Veneto: Transitory or Terminal?”

Political Corruption and Organised Crime in Italy

Chair: Mark Donovan (Cardiff)
Discussant: Daniele Albertazzi (Christ Church, Canterbury)

• Jim Newell (Salford): “Corruption Mitigating Policies in Italy”
• Felia Allum (Bath): “The Struggle Against Organised Crime in Italy”