A Study on the Making of the Italian Multipartism (1994-1999). Enigma of the Center and Bipolarity

The paper discusses the fate of the Grande Centra and the successor center parties in the party system transformation in Italy in the 1990s. It argues that there is no more any genuine Center pole within this arrangement. There are two major poles and/or alliances which have left no space between them for establishing of any viable independent “classic” centrist and centre-based political and electoral option. However, the center area has been not yet effectively occupied and controlled by the major alliances. Moreover, the two major poles have been represented by composed and heterogeneous alliances with difficult internal equilibria and mechanics. Therefore, the essentially bipolar framework of the Italian party arrangement seems to be still vulnerable in the late 1990s.