James L Newell
Biographic Data
| ID | 89645 |
|---|---|
| NAME | James L Newell |
| GIVEN NAMES | James L |
| FAMILY NAME | Newell |
| SIGNATURE | NEWELL J L |
| AFFILIATIONS | University of Salford |
| ORCID | 0000-0002-0442-5845 |
| VERIFIED | Yes |
| TOTAL WORKS | 101 |
| TOTAL CITATIONS | 250 |
| AUTHOR COUNT | 96 |
| EDITOR COUNT | 5 |
| FIRST PUBLICATION YEAR | 1993 |
| LATEST PUBLICATION YEAR | 2026 |
| H-INDEX | 9 |
Politics in Italy
As regular readers of Contemporary Italian Politics will know, every year the journal hosts the English-language edition of Politica in Italia, the annual series of volumes offering interpretation
Popular mobilisation and government setback
Italy at the beginning of 2026
Sovereignty on trial
The referenda of 8 and 9 June
Giorgia Meloni and the post-truth society
Italy at the start of 2025
Between government and opposition
Fratelli d’Italia and Giorgia Meloni at the start of 2024
Italy the day after the European parliament elections of 8 and 9 June
Italian politics and the European Parliament elections of 2024
Italy at the Polls 2022
This book presents the electoral analyses to understand the challenges and consequences that established democracies are currently facing, beyond Italy
An obituary for Silvio Berlusconi
Disclosure statementNo potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s)
Italian politics at the start of 2023
Interpreting the actions of the Meloni government
regular readers of Contemporary Italian Politics will know, the second issue each year hosts the English-language version of the Italian edition in the well-known annual series, Politica in Italia.Produced in collaboration with the Istituto Cattaneo in Bologna and the
The shifting landscape of the Italian left
This article asks, ‘What’s left of the Italian left?’ arguing that an answer to the question presupposes having the answer to four more specific questions, namely, what does the term ‘left’ mean? What parties belong to this category thus defined? What accounts for the parties’ electoral decline since the end of the cold war? What, if anything, can be done to revive their fortunes? I argue that the terms ‘left’ and ‘right’ describe a spatial metap…
The Meloni government one year on
Italy at the Polls 2022
Italian politics and Russia’s invasion of Ukraine
A gathering storm on the horizon
Italy’s national-unity government at the start of 2022
Italy in the Autumn of 2022
Europe and the Left
Italy and beyond at the start of 2021
As we were going to press, a few days after the start of the New Year, the news headlines, in Italy as elsewhere, were dominated by the events in Washington DC. Precisely because they were so unpre
Building back better? Italian politics in the summer of 2021
As we were finalizing the current issue, in early July, high on the agenda of public discussion were the disegno di legge Zan (after the Democratic Party (PD) deputy, Alessandro Zan, its main spons
Outsider parties in government in Western Europe
Over the past two decades, a growing number of ‘outsider parties’ have entered governing centre-left and centre-right coalitions across Western Europe. In this introduction, we first define outsider parties as those which — even when their vote-share would have enabled it — have gone through a period of not being ‘coalitionable’, whether of their own volition or that of other parties in the system. Based on the articles in this issue, we then dis…
Di lotta e di governo
Since 1994, Italian politics has seen a number of coalitions including parties whose identity has been strongly based on their ‘outsider’ status as uncompromising opposition movements which would not previously consider government participation. This article examines the contrasting experiences in office of two such parties: the regionalist populist Lega Nord (LN) and the radical left Rifondazione Comunista (RC). While the Lega confounded expecta…
Italian Political Parties on the Web
To draw some conclusions about the implications of parties' engagement with the new information and communications technologies (ICTs) for the quality of democracy, this article explores the way in which Italian parties are exploiting the World Wide Web for campaigning and related functions. Italy has been chosen because it is a liberal democracy and yet has party-system and other characteristics in terms of which it differs from other democracie…
Still the Anomalous Democracy? Politics and Institutions in Italy
Until the early 1990s, the Italian political system was regarded as anomalous among advanced democracies because of its failure to achieve alternation in government. Since then, that problem has been overcome, but Italy has been popularly viewed as continuing to be different to other democracies because it is ‘in transition’ between regimes. However, this position itself is becoming increasingly difficult to sustain because of the length of time …
The Italian election of May 2006
The general election of 9 and 10 April was one of the closest fought in Italy’s history. In the Chamber of Deputies, the centre-left Unione coalition emerged \nahead of the centre-right Casa delle liberta` (House of Freedoms, Cdl) by just 24,755 votes (though owing to the electoral law, the majority in terms of seats was a comfortable 66). In the Senate the Unione won just two seats \nmore than the Cdl (and was behind by 124,273 votes).1 However,…
Italian Politics and the 1992 Elections
Journal Article Italian Politics and the 1992 Elections: From ‘Stable Instability’ to Instability and Change Get access MARTIN J. BULL, MARTIN J. BULL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar JAMES L. NEWELL JAMES L. NEWELL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 46, Issue 2, April 1993, Pages 203–227, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a052413 P…
Party organisations and alliances in Italy in the 1990s
This study analyses the changes which have taken place in Italian political parties and the alliances they have formulated in the 1990s, changes which are visible at three levels: the disappearance of old parties and their replacement with new organisations; organisational innovation in many of the new parties, and a new pattern of alliances ‐ which is increasingly shaped by bipolarity. The changes are analysed in three periods, each of which cul…
The Italian referenda of April 1993
Background: Cognitive Muscular TherapyTM (CMT) is an integrated behavioural intervention developed for knee osteoarthritis.CMT teaches patients to reconceptualise the condition, integrates muscle biofeedback and aims to reduce muscle overactivity, both in response to pain and during daily activities.This nested qualitative study explored patient and physiotherapist perspectives and experiences of CMT.Methods: Five physiotherapists were trained to…
New Parties, New Media
UK and US-based studies have revealed certain patterns in the way parties use the World Wide Web. These patterns may or may not be repeated elsewhere. This article explores the extent to which Italian parties are exploiting the Web; the impact of the specificities of the Italian institutional context on parties' use of the new medium; the impact which the medium can be expected to have on party competition in Italy. Analysis of their websites rev…
The Scotish National Party and the Italian
As European regional autonomy parties, the Scottish National Party and the Italian Lega Nord present important similarities in the way they appeal to voters. Both parties, too, have recently been favoured by very similar social and political changes. Yet, of the two parties’ recent electoral advances, that of the Lega has been by far the more striking. This can be explained in terms of the relative inability of the Lega's main rival, the Democraz…
Turning over a new leaf? Cohesion and discipline in the Italian parliament
The literature on parties suggests various hypotheses about the conditions under which the cohesion and discipline of parliamentary parties will be greater or lesser. Since one such hypothesis concerns party‐system characteristics, Italy offers an opportunity to investigate what happens to cohesion and discipline when a system characterised by the permanence in office of a large, centrally located party and based on the permanent exclusion of lef…
Italy Changes Course? The 1994 Elections and the Victory of the Right
Journal Article Italy Changes Course? The 1994 Elections and the Victory of the Right Get access MARTIN J. BULL, MARTIN J. BULL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar JAMES L. NEWELL JAMES L. NEWELL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 48, Issue 1, January 1995, Pages 72–99, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a052524 Published: 01 January 19…
Characterising the Italian parliament
Despite the emergence of a bipolar party system following the introduction of a new electoral law in 1993, the Italian parliament remains an exception to the rule that legislatures have little influence over policy. It was reasonable to think that party competition, based on two coalitions each competing for overall majorities, would allow governments after 1993 to subordinate the legislature to their will through cohesive majorities. That this h…
The man who never was? The Italian transition and 2008 election
The implications for the co-called Italian transition of the 2008 election initially seemed significant – but have since become increasingly uncertain as Berlusconi's conflict of interests has risen higher up the political agenda. This underscores the pertinence of asking about the sense in which the notion of ‘transition’ is actually applicable to the Italian case at all – bearing in mind that it describes a process now supposedly underway for s…
Towards the End of a Long Transition? Bipolarity and Instability in Italy's Changing Political System
This article analyses the significance of the 2008 general election for the prospects of an early conclusion to Italy's transition from a First to a Second Republic. The election saw not only the return of Berlusconi to power, but also a radical simplification of Italian politics, with a considerable reduction in the number of parliamentary groups and the emergence of much more straightforward and clear-cut governing and opposition roles. The lik…
A Landlord's Notice to Quit
This article explores the significance of the local elections of May 2012 for the general direction of change in Italian politics. The forces of the centre-right were deserted en masse but without those of the centre-left effectively capitalising on the discontent, which was, instead, expressed by the spectacular advance of the ‘non-party’, the almost completely novel Five-Star Movement. As the last major contest on the political agenda before th…
Interpretive approaches and the study of Italian politics
This article asks why, despite their doubtful utility, the categories used in accounts of contemporary Italian politics are almost universally negative in character. It is suggested that at least part of the explanation has to do with the ontological and epistemological assumptions informing the accounts, together with the social circumstances that have given rise to their production. More fruitful, less uncritically negative analyses require the…
Electoral reform in Italy
The authors find that four defects of Italian politics attributed to the old electoral system have not been remedied by the two‐vote system
Italy at the start of 2025
Legato assai
In accordance with what is now an established tradition, this second issue of the year is devoted to the English-language edition of the long-running annual series, Politica in Italia (Pit), publis
Italian politics
Italian politics
Waiting for something to happen
As, in the spring of 2019, the European Parliament (EP) elections drew closer, there had been two reasons for thinking that they would be the most significant in the EU’s history, both for the futu
Living in interesting times
Introduction
Love him or loathe him, Silvio Berlusconi is widely assumed to be Europe's most remarkable politician of recent decades, one who has not only affected the nature of electoral competition or the shape of the party system in Italy, but one who has influenced the country's political agenda to the extent that he himself and his role in politics have for long periods been the most important issues around which party competition has taken place
The Italian referenda of April 1993
Background: Cognitive Muscular TherapyTM (CMT) is an integrated behavioural intervention developed for knee osteoarthritis.CMT teaches patients to reconceptualise the condition, integrates muscle biofeedback and aims to reduce muscle overactivity, both in response to pain and during daily activities.This nested qualitative study explored patient and physiotherapist perspectives and experiences of CMT.Methods: Five physiotherapists were trained to…
Italian Politics and the 1992 Elections
Journal Article Italian Politics and the 1992 Elections: From ‘Stable Instability’ to Instability and Change Get access MARTIN J. BULL, MARTIN J. BULL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar JAMES L. NEWELL JAMES L. NEWELL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 46, Issue 2, April 1993, Pages 203–227, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a052413 P…
The Scotish National Party and the Italian
As European regional autonomy parties, the Scottish National Party and the Italian Lega Nord present important similarities in the way they appeal to voters. Both parties, too, have recently been favoured by very similar social and political changes. Yet, of the two parties’ recent electoral advances, that of the Lega has been by far the more striking. This can be explained in terms of the relative inability of the Lega's main rival, the Democraz…
Italy Changes Course? The 1994 Elections and the Victory of the Right
Journal Article Italy Changes Course? The 1994 Elections and the Victory of the Right Get access MARTIN J. BULL, MARTIN J. BULL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar JAMES L. NEWELL JAMES L. NEWELL Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 48, Issue 1, January 1995, Pages 72–99, https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.pa.a052524 Published: 01 January 19…
The Italian general election of 21 April 1996
INTRODUCTION: Pregnancy is a crucial period which ultimately directly impacts two individuals health and wellbeing. Within the UK, a standardised pattern of care is established with collaborations across disciplines to the benefit of women and babies. During the COVID19 pandemic, this pattern of care was disrupted to align with protective protocols which until now, has not been formally reported. METHODS: A retrospective, mixed methods study of U…
Electoral reform in Italy
The authors find that four defects of Italian politics attributed to the old electoral system have not been remedied by the two‐vote system
Party organisations and alliances in Italy in the 1990s
This study analyses the changes which have taken place in Italian political parties and the alliances they have formulated in the 1990s, changes which are visible at three levels: the disappearance of old parties and their replacement with new organisations; organisational innovation in many of the new parties, and a new pattern of alliances ‐ which is increasingly shaped by bipolarity. The changes are analysed in three periods, each of which cul…
The Landmark 1996 elections in Italy
Martin Bull and James Newell assess the second Italian election, under the new quasi‐majoritarian ‘mixed member’ system, and its historic significance
Actors at a dress rehearsal
INTRODUCTION: Pregnancy is a crucial period which ultimately directly impacts two individuals health and wellbeing. Within the UK, a standardised pattern of care is established with collaborations across disciplines to the benefit of women and babies. During the COVID19 pandemic, this pattern of care was disrupted to align with protective protocols which until now, has not been formally reported. METHODS: A retrospective, mixed methods study of U…
New Parties, New Media
UK and US-based studies have revealed certain patterns in the way parties use the World Wide Web. These patterns may or may not be repeated elsewhere. This article explores the extent to which Italian parties are exploiting the Web; the impact of the specificities of the Italian institutional context on parties' use of the new medium; the impact which the medium can be expected to have on party competition in Italy. Analysis of their websites rev…
Turning over a new leaf? Cohesion and discipline in the Italian parliament
The literature on parties suggests various hypotheses about the conditions under which the cohesion and discipline of parliamentary parties will be greater or lesser. Since one such hypothesis concerns party‐system characteristics, Italy offers an opportunity to investigate what happens to cohesion and discipline when a system characterised by the permanence in office of a large, centrally located party and based on the permanent exclusion of lef…
Italian Political Parties on the Web
To draw some conclusions about the implications of parties' engagement with the new information and communications technologies (ICTs) for the quality of democracy, this article explores the way in which Italian parties are exploiting the World Wide Web for campaigning and related functions. Italy has been chosen because it is a liberal democracy and yet has party-system and other characteristics in terms of which it differs from other democracie…
Italian Politics after the 2001 General Election
Journal Article Italian Politics after the 2001 General Election: Plus ça change, plus c'est la même chose? Get access James L. Newell, James L. Newell Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Martin J. Bull Martin J. Bull Search for other works by this author on: Oxford Academic Google Scholar Parliamentary Affairs, Volume 55, Issue 4, 1 October 2002, Pages 626–642, https://doi.org/10.1093/parlij/55.4.626 Publishe…
Conclusion
In this concluding chapter, we draw on the findings of the 16 preceding chapters to formulate a series of comparative observations and conclusions.
Corruption in Contemporary Politics
Political corruption has recently emerged as a key area in the study of advanced industrial nations. Not only has it become more visible than in the past, its sheer scale in some countries has had a s
Interpretive approaches and the study of Italian politics
This article asks why, despite their doubtful utility, the categories used in accounts of contemporary Italian politics are almost universally negative in character. It is suggested that at least part of the explanation has to do with the ontological and epistemological assumptions informing the accounts, together with the social circumstances that have given rise to their production. More fruitful, less uncritically negative analyses require the…
Americanization and the judicialization of Italian politics
Since 1945, Italian politics has become increasingly ‘judicialized’, a feature that it shares with the politics of other liberal democracies around the world. Judicialization is related to three trends: a growing capacity of judiciaries to constrain other branches of government; their growing willingness to do so; an increasing tendency for them to become drawn into partisan political conflicts. Processes of judicialization in Italy have had, as …
Corruption-mitigating Policies
One of the circumstances likely to be associated with the intensity of both investigative and legislative efforts designed to curb political and bureaucratic corruption is institutional reform. Since the characteristics of electoral and party systems seem to be associated with variations in the intensity of anti-corruption efforts cross-nationally, it was reasonable to think that changes in the characteristics of these systems in Italy in the 199…
The Italian election of May 2006
The general election of 9 and 10 April was one of the closest fought in Italy’s history. In the Chamber of Deputies, the centre-left Unione coalition emerged \nahead of the centre-right Casa delle liberta` (House of Freedoms, Cdl) by just 24,755 votes (though owing to the electoral law, the majority in terms of seats was a comfortable 66). In the Senate the Unione won just two seats \nmore than the Cdl (and was behind by 124,273 votes).1 However,…
Characterising the Italian parliament
Despite the emergence of a bipolar party system following the introduction of a new electoral law in 1993, the Italian parliament remains an exception to the rule that legislatures have little influence over policy. It was reasonable to think that party competition, based on two coalitions each competing for overall majorities, would allow governments after 1993 to subordinate the legislature to their will through cohesive majorities. That this h…
Prodi's Narrow Victory and Italian Politics
The general election of April 2006 marked a further milestone, and possibly a turning point, in the recent trajectory of Italian politics. Unexpectedly narrow, the election outcome brought to government a coalition which, in the immediate aftermath of the campaign, appeared to face one of two possibilities: that either it would find the very precariousness of its position to be, paradoxically, its strength, giving it a degree of cohesion it might…
Centrism in Italian politics
Recent developments, especially the outcome of the 2008 election, appear to point to the definitive sidelining of centrism in Italian politics. In reality, it remains significant – not least because of the opportunities for influence all bipolar systems give to parties not of the left or right, and because of the possible consequences of reassessments of centrism's historical significance. The term itself has been used to denote a kind of politic…
The Prodi government of 2006 and 2007
Now that the fifteenth legislature has come to an end, it is appropriate to assess the performance of the government whose fall was responsible for this event, as well as the coalition's significance for the trajectory of Italian politics generally. The four articles that follow this one together initiate the task, exploring performance from an institutional and policy-making point of view. This article suggests four criteria for evaluating the p…
Political Science Innovations, Good and Bad
Political Science in its European and Global Context
Political science (93 works) · Law (67 works) · Politics (66 works) · Law (54 works) · Sociology (46 works) · Political economy (44 works) · Italian Fascism and Post-war Society (36 works) · Public Administration (34 works) · Public Administration (33 works) · Populism, Right-Wing Movements (25 works)