Understanding political change in Italy in the last 30 years

Knowledge and understanding: Knowledge of the electoral and political history of Italy from 1948 to today. Applying knowledge and understanding: At the end of the course, the student will have developed the ability to follow political current affairs (newspapers, TV, social media); read scientific articles about the Italian political system in its various facets (leaders, parties, electoral results, voters, etc.). Making judgements: Thanks to the knowledge and skills acquired in the course, the student will be able to analyze and understand in depth Italian politics and its contemporary and future dynamics. Communication skills: Through seminar and interactive lessons, students will develop the ability to debate and discuss political topics based on the data and results of the scientific literature (and therefore not exclusively on their own opinions). Learning skills: Thanks to the ability to understand and analyze the complex Italian political reality, the student will be able to write articles or short essays concerning political-electoral research questions in reference to the Italian case.

Theory of party competition. Electoral systems. The crisis of the First Republic. The Second Republic. The Italian pattern of government between First and Second Republic. How electoral behavior has changes. The 2013 and 2018 Italian general elections. Party system change. The new electoral system.

M. Cotta e L. Verzichelli (2020), Il sistema politico italiano, Il Mulino, Bologna (IV edizione): ch. 1-2-3-4-5-6-10. D'Alimonte and Mammarella (2022), L'Italia della svolta 2011-2021, Bologna, Il Mulino. Chiaramonte and De Sio (2019) eds.), Il voto del cambiamento. Le elezioni politiche del 2018, Bologna, Il Mulino, ch. 5-6-7.

Lectures, discussions and seminars.

Exam procedure: The evaluation takes place exclusively through a final written exam. The exam consists of 10 open-ended questions, which must be answered in a maximum of 90 '. Time management is essential for the exam. Don't waste too much time on an answer. The perfect answer can be given in a few lines. You should not say everything that you know about a certain subject, but concisely answer the question posed. It is not possible to take the exam in three consecutive sessions. Methods for verifying the expected learning outcomes: The exam questions in each session are selected in order to broadly cover the different thematic areas of the course (from the functioning of the Italian political system, to its historical developments, with particular reference to the electoral systems and the 2018 elections), so as to thoroughly verify the knowledge that students are expected to have acquired. Moreover, through the short open answers, it is possible to verify the ability to apply the acquired knowledge and communication skills - eg. through comparisons of dynamics and mechanisms between different historical seasons or different electoral laws. Evaluation criteria and scoring: Each of the ten questions has the same weight on the final grade. Each answer is scored on the following scale from 0 to 4 points: 4 points: perfect answer; 3.5: there is more or less everything; 3: good but some element is missing; 2.5: not quite satisfactory; 2: unsatisfactory; 1.5: just sufficient; 1: insufficient; 0: question skipped. The scores obtained in the 10 answers are added together, so as to obtain a score in the fortieth. This is then transformed into the final grade out of thirty according to a conversion algorithm in which 40/40 corresponds to 30 cum laude, and 18/40 to 18.

29/30