Democratising candidate selection in Italy and France

The socio-economic structure of Italy has several features in common with that of France. Both Italy and France are large countries with nearly 60 million inhabitants; both feature advanced and industrialised economies; and both were founding members of the European Economic Community (EEC), a predecessor of the European Union (EU). Moreover, they are culturally similar, as both Italy and France are homogeneous societies lacking substantial linguistic minorities, and the predominance of Catholicism prevents the existence of other sizeable religious groups. Even after World War II Italy and France also shared similar political attributes. In the years following the war, both were parliamentary regimes with a proportional representation (PR) electoral system; a multiparty system affected by ideological antagonism (Sartori, 1976); unstable coalition governments; and strongly centralised centre-periphery relationships.