PRESENTATION AT THE CONFERENCE: BRIEF REMARKS ON REFERENDUMS IN ITALY

Abstract

Italy is one of the Western democracies in which referendums are held with the greatest frequency. The use of the referendum, in its various forms, has become an important issue in Italy and is debated on all levels, from academic analysis to public debate, including the work of journalists and clashes between political actors and subjects. However, the intense and continuous debate over the past decades, and above all in the run-up to votes, has often remained within the limits of partisan interpretations, which has given rise to distortions of perspective, acritical condemnations and an equally acritical exaltation of the referendum as an instrument.
Referendums have often been understood within the Italian system, not so much as a means of stimulating or supplementing the activity of Parliament, but rather as an exception which, due to its very nature, gives rise to a situation of competition and conflict with the representative system.