On the disappearance of leftist political idea(l)s

ABSTRACTIn this article, I have chosen a specific perspective from which to identify and analyse what has gone wrong for the Italian Left in the past thirty years. I will take as my starting point the demolition of the Berlin Wall (1989) and continue with the foundation of the Partito Democratico (Democratic Party [PD] 2007), its vicissitudes, its current state of health and its status. I will do so by attempting as far as possible to consider what has been done, or not done, by other left-wing parties in Europe. My main hypothesis is that the Left has declined because it has been unable to renew or reinvigorate its political culture. When dealing with the PD I will briefly analyse the motivations behind its birth, and especially the frequently repeated intention to amalgamate – through the so-called and never-achieved hybridization – the best of all Italian reformist political cultures. My final remarks will be devoted to what can be done to (re)formulate a left-wing political culture in Italy (and elsewhere in Europe).RIASSUNTOPer questo articolo ho scelto una specifica prospettiva che individua e analizza che cosa è andato storto nella sinistra italiana negli ultimi trent’anni. Il punto di partenza è il crollo del muro di Berlino (1989). Proseguo con la fondazione del Partito Democratico (2007), le sue vicissitudini, il suo stato di salute, il suo ruolo. Ne scrivo tenendo conto nella misura del possibile di quanto è stato fatto/non fatto da altri partiti di sinistra in Europa. La mia ipotesi principale è che la sinistra è declinata perché non è riuscita a rinnovare e rinvigorire la sua cultura politica. Con riferimento al al Partito Democratico, mi soffermo sull’analisi delle motivazioni della sua nascita e specialmente della fin troppo frequentemente ripetuta intenzione di amalgamare – con la cosiddetta e mai acquisita ibridazione – il meglio delle culture politiche riformiste italiane. Le mie considerazioni conclusive sono dedicate a quello che può essere fatto per (ri)formulare una cultura politica di sinistra in in Italia (e altrove in Europa).KEYWORDS: political cultureConstitutionEuropecivil rightsDemocratic Partyliberal-democracyPAROLE CHIAVE: Cultura politicaCostituzioneEuropadiritti civiliPartito Democraticoliberaldemocrazia Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).Notes1. It is difficult to understand exactly what kind of party Michele Salvati was advocating. However, one must pay some attention to what he wrote in several widely circulated publications collected in Salvati (Citation2003). One point is crystal-clear. For Salvati, whatever solution one might have been able to find, it had to consist in the complete abandonment of all the formulations of the Italian Communist tradition and of everything else the left had stood for in Italy.2. Location on the ‘left–right’ continuum has always seen the PD placed somewhere between 70 and 80. Most of the statements of its leaders confirm that the PD is centre-left party. The great majority of the members of the first National Assembly located themselves slightly more to the left of the location they gave to their party (Fasano Citation2009, 165). The passing of time saw the party slowly sliding towards the centre. Still, approximately 70 per cent of the activists firmly located themselves on the centre-left (Fasano Citation2010, 43; Fasano and Martocchia Diodati Citation2014, 73).3. It is revealing that not a single one of the books that I have quoted so far have a specific chapter on the political culture of the PD. Nor do Natale and Fasano (Citation2017) or Tedeschi (Citation2018). The word identity promisingly appears in the latter’s title, but unfortunately it is not discussed in the body of the book. However, there is a lively debate concerning whether a politics of change should rely on identity and concerning the facets defining it (Fukuyama Citation2018).4. This ongoing story has not ceased to produce considerable political damage. Put synthetically, leaving aside those who consider the Italian Constitution untouchable, the Italian left has no idea about whether and how to reform the political system. Highly representative of all the possible shortcomings is the book edited by Ceccanti and Vassallo (Citation2003). A critique can be found in Pasquino (Citation2012, 303–308). More than thirty years of debate have failed to result in any shared proposals. The PD’s constitutional reforms – deriving from many of the ideas formulated by the contributors to Ceccanti’s and Vassallo’s compilation – were resoundingly defeated in the 2016 referendum (see Pritoni, Valbruzzi and Vignati, Citation2017). Expediency is the word that best captures the principle around which the left as a whole and the PD have shaped their institutional and electoral policies.5. I am not familiar with any analysis of this kind. Not a single one of the books devoted to election of the general secretary contains a chapter on the political culture of the PD.6. The reference to the ‘cittadino come arbitro’ is a posthumous homage to Roberto Ruffilli’s (1937–1988) book of the same title. It is conveniently forgotten that, aware of the social complexity of Italy, Ruffilli emphasized the need to formulate a ‘culture of coalitions’. Understandably, this culture is almost the opposite of the “majoritarian vocation”, which was the hallmark of Veltroni’s 2007–2008 electoral campaign and the illusion of several of his successors.7. Especially in the last period of his life, Gallino was very productive. His academic and political philosophy is articulated in Gallino (Citation2009).8. I feel I am justified in avoiding both the term ‘ideology’ as well as the term ‘political culture’.9. One should not for a moment underestimate the significance of the fact that the proposed rottamazione resonated with the deep feelings of several sectors of the party’s activists and with voters tired of seeing the same old faces.Additional informationNotes on contributorsGianfranco PasquinoGianfranco Pasquino is Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Bologna and Senior Adjunct Professor at the Bologna Center of the Johns Hopkins University. Fellow of the Accademia dei Lincei, his most recent books are Italian Democracy. How it Works (Routledge 2020), Libertà inutile. Profilo ideologico dell’Italia repubblicana (UTET 2021), Tra scienza e politica. Una autobiografia (UTET 2022) and Il lavoro intellettuale (UTET 2023). He has co-edited The Oxford Handbook of Italian Politics (Oxford University Press 2015) and the Dizionario di Politica (UTET-De Agostini 2016, 4a ed., revised) and co-authored (with Riccardo Pelizzo), The Culture of Accuntability. A Democratic Virtue (Routledge 2022).