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The size and shape of the Italian interest system between the 1980s and the present day

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2017

Renata Lizzi  and
Andrea Pritoni
Renata Lizzi*
Affiliation:
Department of Political and Social Sciences, University of Bologna, Forlì, Italy
Andrea Pritoni
Affiliation:
Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences, Scuola Normale Superiore, Pisa, Italy
*
*E-mail: renata.lizzi@unibo.it
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Abstract

Within interest group research, scholars following the population ecology perspective mainly look at the demographic features of populations and systems under scrutiny: density and diversity represent the main dimensions investigated. Even though, in recent years, an impressive amount of literature on this topic has been produced, there has been neither systematic analysis of, nor empirical research into, the Italian interest system so far. This article aims to address this lacuna. Following a diachronic perspective, we count how many politically active groups have populated the Italian interest system with regard to two different periods: 1984–88 and 2010–14. From 1984 to 2014 the number of interest groups almost doubled and the density of the system greatly increased; diversity, however, has remained relatively more stable.

Keywords

interest groupspopulation ecologyItalian politicsdensitydiversity
Type
Research Article
Information
Italian Political Science Review / Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica , Volume 47 , Issue 3 , November 2017 , pp. 291 - 312
Copyright
© Società Italiana di Scienza Politica 2017 

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