Stefano Fella

This title was first published in 2002. This book makes a valuable contribution to the literature on the UK-EU relationship and on the development of the Labour party since Tony Blair became leader in 1994, providing a detailed examination of the process of policy-making undertaken by Labour in relation to the 1996-97 intergovernmental conference (IGC) of the EU. It tracks policy development from opposition to government, culminating in the conclusion of treaty negotiations at Amsterdam in June 1997. The book moves beyond the existing literature in providing an original account of policy-making based on internal party and government sources. It highlights a ’New Labour’ approach to the EU - set in place by the time of the Amsterdam summit and characteristic of the Blair government’s European policy thereafter - and suggests that this approach represents both continuity and change with previous UK governments and a break from the European social democratic perspective that had been central to Labour’s previous pro-European conversion.

Political Strategy, Policy Transition and the Amsterdam Treaty Negotiation

New Labour and the European Union

Carlo Ruzza

Following his third election victory in 2008, the Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi was the most controversial head of government in the EU. This is a cogent examination of the Berlusconi phenomenon, exploring the success and development of the new populist right-wing coalition in Italy since the collapse of the post-war party system in the early 1990s. Carlo Ruzza and Stefano Fella provide a comprehensive discussion of the three main parties of the Italian right: Berlusconi’s Forza Italia, the xenophobic and regionalist populist Northern League and the post-fascist National Alliance. The book assesses the implications of this controversial right for the Italian democratic system and examines how the social and political peculiarities of Italy have allowed such political formations to emerge and enjoy repeated electoral success. Framed in a comparative perspective, the authors: explore the nature of the Italian right in the context of right-wing parties and populist phenomena elsewhere in other advanced democracies, drawing comparisons and providing broader explanations. locate the parties of the Italian right within the existing theoretical conceptions of right-wing and populist parties, utilising a multi-method approach, including a content analysis of party programmes. highlight the importance of political and discursive opportunities in explaining the success of the Italian right, and the agency role of a political leadership that has skilfully shaped and communicated an ideological package to exploit these opportunities. Providing an excellent insight into a key European nation, this work provides a thoughtful and stimulating contribution to the research on the Italian right, and its implications for democratic politics.

Territorial politics, populism and 'post-fascism'

Re-inventing the Italian Right

Successive EU treaties may have instituted a common framework for fighting racial discrimination and intolerance across Europe, but it is a framework that masks the significant differences that arise as a result of national context: for example, pre-existing national anti-racist policies and legislation; the degree of success, character and development of anti-racist movements as well as the political, socio-economic and cultural context in which these policies and movements arise. The aim of this book is to provide an understanding of these different national contexts by exploring the nature of anti-racist movements in six different EU member states and their relationship to political institutions and policy-making, while also reflecting on the impact of the new European sphere of decision-making. Drawing on extensive primary research involving interviews with movement and policy actors at the national and EU level, the book sheds light on the nature of racism and responses to it across Europe, analysing the impact of Europeanisation of policy-making on the sector, and exploring north-south and east-west differences and patterns of convergence.

Stefano Fella

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