Governing under Constraint

The main events of 2015 were undoubtedly international ones. The reactions to the terrorist attacks, mass migrations, economic crisis, and environmental problems may lead the reader to think that Italy has been a “policy-taker” rather than a “policy-maker.” And yet a careful analysis of the events of the year suggest that the government led by Matteo Renzi engaged in a series of reforms that were deemed necessary in order to remedy some of the long-standing issues that have caused the national debt to skyrocket and Italy to lose credibility and prestige internationally (Calise 2015a; Salvati 2015c). It is obviously possible to hold very different opinions on the content, mode, and potential results of these reforms; however, we must acknowledge that the government, despite a slim and fractious parliamentary majority, has managed to impose its political agenda. This remarkable decisionmaking drive on the domestic front—which some have branded as “announcism” if not outright “populism” (Pasquino 2015; Revelli 2015; Ventura 2015a)—stands in stark contrast with the hiatus that emerged between statements and actions in international matters, a gap that has had negative effects (Carbone 2015; Colombo and Magri 2016). This introduction aims to offer an interpretation that is necessarily provisional, given that the ultimate consequences of many policy decisions will be visible only in the future, not only of the policy measures implemented by the Renzi government during the year 2015, but also of the context within which they were made. In order to provide a