Books by Michelangelo Vercesi
(co-authored with Ferdinand Müller-Rommel and Jan Berz) This book examines the changes in the car... more (co-authored with Ferdinand Müller-Rommel and Jan Berz) This book examines the changes in the career experiences and profiles of 350 European prime ministers in 26 European democracies from 1945 to 2020. It builds on a theoretical framework, which claims that the decline of party government along with the increase of populism, technocracy, and the presidentialization of politics have influenced the careers of prime ministers over the past 70 years. The findings show that prime ministers’ career experiences became less political and more technical. Moreover, their career profiles shifted from a traditional type of ‘party-agent’ to a new type of ‘party-principal’. These changes affected the recruitment of executive elites and their political representation in European democracies, albeit with different intensity and speed.
Journal Articles by Michelangelo Vercesi
(with Raul Gomez and Thomas Mustillo) This article introduces the 2025 annual issue of the 'Polit... more (with Raul Gomez and Thomas Mustillo) This article introduces the 2025 annual issue of the 'Political Data Yearbook', which focuses on political developments and events in 2024 in 37 countries worldwide. It presents comparative data on elections, referenda, as well as cabinet and parliament composition. Moreover, it discusses main issues in national politics and the state of democracy.
(with Pamela Pansardi) The literature argues that the appointment of a woman to a chief executive... more (with Pamela Pansardi) The literature argues that the appointment of a woman to a chief executive position is a boost for women’s empowerment in politics. Yet, while some female prime ministers (PMs) promote relatively high numbers of women among ministers, others do not. Why? What role does the PM’s gender have in defining the gender composition of the cabinet? Is ideology to play the lion’s share? This article answers through a large-N comparative analysis of 286 cabinets across Europe from 2000 to 2023, in light of an original dataset. Key findings are that no independent effect of gender and ideology can be detected. However, their interaction reveals that, due to electoral considerations, left-wing male PMs promote women more than left-wing female PMs, while there is no difference on the right. The article has implications for the debate about gendered institutions and their definition of political leaders’ strategic behavior.
(with Ferdinand Müller-Rommel) Jean Blondel’s academic impact in the field of comparative governm... more (with Ferdinand Müller-Rommel) Jean Blondel’s academic impact in the field of comparative governments was enormous, but difficult to measure. Over the past 60 years, his publications have fuelled the work of several generations of colleagues around the world. In this short essay, we first introduce his most influential publications. Second, we introduce the empirical findings of major comparative studies which stand ‘on the shoulders’ of his research on governments and ministers in parliamentary democracies. Overall, we state that Jean Blondel’s comparative research was not designed to leave behind an enduring theory of his own. Instead, he was more interested in looking for more unexpected measurable facts and merge them into generalizations about the future of cabinet governments and political leaders.
(with Ludger Helms) This special collection is devoted to cabinet reshuffles, which are understoo... more (with Ludger Helms) This special collection is devoted to cabinet reshuffles, which are understood as personnel-related changes within the lifetime of a cabinet. Scholars agree that cabinet reshuffles matter in many respects. To begin, they may shape intra-governmental relations, by either intensifying or helping solve cabinet conflicts. Further, they are important instruments for party leaders to promote or demote party representatives, with far-reaching possible consequences for the party and beyond. Last but not least, reshuffles may be used to increase governmental efficiency and often trigger policy change. The ever-increasing personalization of politics has fueled the public interest in any ministerial personnel-related issues, and turned cabinet reshuffles into events of undisputed political and scholarly relevance. Despite the apparent importance and ubiquity of reshuffles, the international literature displays at least two major flaws: first, a lack of systematic comparison across countries and regimes and second, a strong notional and empirical bias towards Westminster democracies. This collection seeks to overcome these weaknesses and their limiting effects on the knowledge and understanding of key aspects of executive politics and executive–legislative relations. With that aim, it gathers novel comparative research on the different types, causes and effects of cabinet reshuffles in a variety of democratic and authoritarian systems. The theoretical approaches and empirical findings of the six articles featured mark a major contribution to the scholarship on political executives and executive elites in the contemporary world.
(with Ludger Helms) While previous research on cabinet reshuffles has offered valuable distinctio... more (with Ludger Helms) While previous research on cabinet reshuffles has offered valuable distinctions in terms of their timing, other defining features of reshuffles have largely escaped comparative inquiry. This article seeks to develop a more complete comparative assessment of cabinet reshuffles in parliamentary systems that reaches beyond the ‘classic’ samples of Westminster democracies. We seek to distinguish different ‘types’ of cabinet reshuffles that account for several key features, namely: the mode, the scope, the key principal, and the party dimension of reshuffles. The usefulness and validity of this typology is demonstrated by a comparative assessment of cabinet reshuffles in four major West European parliamentary democracies. The conceptual distinctions and related empirical observations offered in this article should prove valuable in particular when it comes to gauging the likely political and policy effects of different types of cabinet reshuffles, and should, ultimately, provide the foundations of a theory of comparative cabinet reshuffles.
(with Raul Gomez and Thomas Mustillo) This article is the introduction to the 2023 issue of the '... more (with Raul Gomez and Thomas Mustillo) This article is the introduction to the 2023 issue of the 'EJPR Political Data Yearbook'. The issue includes 37 contributions by country experts, presenting political developments and data on 37 countries in 2022. This articles presents and analyzes systematic aggregate data, summarizes the main political trends, and discusses the state of democracy in the 37 countries
(with Alice Cavalieri and Francesco Marangoni) A couple of months after the inauguration of the M... more (with Alice Cavalieri and Francesco Marangoni) A couple of months after the inauguration of the Meloni cabinet, this article assesses to what extent this government introduced novelties relative to its predecessors. In this regard, numerous expectations were due to substantial changes in the political landscape. The Meloni government is the first Italian woman-led executive; it testifies the comeback to power of a center-right majority coalition; it is the first acting in the context of a ‘smaller’ parliament (following the 2020 constitutional reform that reduced the number of deputies and senators). Against this background, we ask if the governmental action changed, depending on the prime minister’s profile and the political and technical credentials of the ministers. We test our expectations that a change occurred, by analyzing the government legislative activity and, in particular, the 2024 national budget law. Overall, the findings show that the hypothesis does not hold for the period under investigation, in that long-term trends prevailed.
(with Raul Gomez and Thomas Mustillo) This article introduces the 2023 issue of the 'EJPR Politic... more (with Raul Gomez and Thomas Mustillo) This article introduces the 2023 issue of the 'EJPR Political Data Yearbook', made up of 37 contributions by country experts on political developments and data on 37 countries in 2022.
The introduction summarizes the main trends and presents and discuss systematic data overviews.
Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy went through a severe health crisis, which put national polit... more Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Italy went through a severe health crisis, which put national political institutions and public services to the test. In response to this challenge, policy-makers implemented specific health policy measures as well as policies in other fields to contain the circulation of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and to mitigate negative economic effects. In this context, conflicts between coalition parties and single cabinet members arose. Against this background, this article deals with the way in which the Italian political executive made its pandemic policy-related decisions during the pandemic. In particular, it aims to test the viability of existing theoretical models of coalition governance to account for actual cabinet decision-making. The work uses formal decrees (by the prime minister, by ministers, or by the cabinet as a whole), approved between February 2020 and February 2022, as proxies of coalition governance models. It answers the following questions: when do PMs centralize or decentralize decision-making? How do crises affect power delegation in cabinet? Four hypotheses result from the integration of literature strands on presidentialization of politics, party behavior in coalitions, and crisis management. Findings show that centralized decision-making prevailed when the prime minister enjoyed greater party support and especially in the most acute phases of the pandemic. However, the ‘coalition compromise’ model of coalition governance was more common when the intra-coalition heterogeneity of policy preferences was higher. The article contributes to the debate about mechanisms of mutual party control within coalition governments and their determinants under the pressure of exogenous shocks.
Among political scientists, presidents in parliamentary democracies have received little attentio... more Among political scientists, presidents in parliamentary democracies have received little attention when compared to their popularly elected counterparts. Yet, there is evidence of influential heads of state beyond semi-presidential and presidential systems, and the Italian one is a case in point. Scholars agree that the ‘informal power’ of Italian presidents has substantially grown since the early 1990s, due to the combination of weak party organisations, the personalisation of politics, and the mediatisation of the presidency. While the literature shows that the choice of the president has become more salient for parties, hardly anything is known about the impact that the increased presidential power has on the complexity of the selection process. This article argues that, when presidents are powerful, parties face high adverse selection costs and, therefore, party leaders will be less likely to compromise on candidates. This, in turn, can lead to political stalemates. Using a novel measure of bargaining complexity, the empirical analysis supports this argument, which holds also after controlling for the contingent features of the parliamentary party set-up. The findings have implications for the study of political leaders and party behaviour in times of party government decline.
(with Andrea Pedrazzani) Three cabinets (Conte I, Conte II, and Draghi) entered office during the... more (with Andrea Pedrazzani) Three cabinets (Conte I, Conte II, and Draghi) entered office during the 18th legislative term in Italy. In spite of the significant ideological differences between them, no full alternation of parties in government occurred. The largest party in parliament – the Five Star Movement – participated in all the three cabinets, while the League and the Democratic Party took part in two of them (the League in the Conte I and Draghi, the Democratic Party in the Conte II and Draghi); other minor parties entered the Conte II and Draghi as well. Did party continuity lead to ministerial stability? This article puts the 18th legislative term in perspective, through a longitudinal comparison of all Italian partisan cabinets from 1994 to 2022 (15 cabinets). In particular, it aims to account for continuity and changes within the Italian ministerial elite across different cabinets, also controlling for the gendered aspect of cabinet reselections and promotions. It answers the following questions: what makes ministerial reselection likely? Do political and personal background count to be reappointed and promoted? Based on original data, the analysis shows that remarkable previous political experience, age, and time matter. In contrast, the type of portfolio held in cabinet and gender do not have a significant impact. In this context, the 18th legislative term appears in line with the general pattern, but it distances itself from other terms defined by party continuity across multiple cabinets. The article contributes to the debates about personnel turnover, representation, and policy-makers stability in democratic cabinets.
(with Raul Gomez and Thomas Mustillo) Editorial introduction to the 2022 issue of the European Jo... more (with Raul Gomez and Thomas Mustillo) Editorial introduction to the 2022 issue of the European Journal of Political Research Political Data Yearbook
The scholarship on political careers and recruitment has increasingly focused on the conditions t... more The scholarship on political careers and recruitment has increasingly focused on the conditions that foster the emergence of new political elites. However, top politicians in democratic regimes tend to share socio-economic backgrounds and occupy similar political positions before entering office. Career patterns in politics are relatively stable and tend to reproduce themselves over time; this leads to the persistence of core background traits among the members of the political elites. The lack of profiles renewal seems at odds with the claim of democratic theory that democratic competition is open, inclusive, and expansive. Despite its relevance, the causal mechanisms behind career patterns’ stability among political elites have received little systematic attention. This article contributes to fill the gap, by focusing on democratic chief executives. First, it clarifies the core concepts for the study of political elites and careers. Second, it proposes an understanding of the formation and stability of chief executives’ career patterns as functions of path dependent institutional effects. Third, the work uses this theory to investigate persistence and renewal of the background characteristics of all US presidents, from George Washington (1789) to Joe Biden (2021). The analysis contributes to the literature on elite stability, circulation, and renewal in democracy.
Combining literatures on the presidentialization of politics and political crisis leadership, thi... more Combining literatures on the presidentialization of politics and political crisis leadership, this article analyzes the way in which the German Chancellor Angela Merkel managed the Covid-19 pandemic crisis. Moreover, it investigates the impact, if any, of the crisis on the ‘monocratization’ of German executive politics. The findings show that Merkel was successful in personalizing crisis management. In particular, she took advantage of a process (albeit relative) of monocratization, which had been characterizing Germany for some years. The outcome has been the enhancement of the informal policy-making power of the chief executive.
Traditional patterns of political participation and party representation in Europe have been put ... more Traditional patterns of political participation and party representation in Europe have been put to the test by the so-called crisis of representative democracy: mainstream parties have been perceived as more unfit to govern; the level of electoral participation has decreased; and voters have shown increasing dissatisfaction with representative institutions. In several cases, these changes have pushed governing elites to (seek to) redefine the 'rules' of the political process, in response to the challenges posed by new party contesters. In particular, in different European countries political actors have stressed the need to undermine the role of second chambers as veto players. This article focuses on both successful and failed attempts of reforms of bicameralism between 2006 and 2016 in seven EU countries (Belgium; Germany; Ireland; Italy; Romania; Spain; UK). It tries (1) to understand if political elites in Europe have pursued parliamentary reforms as a reaction to 'democratic stress' and (2) to single out the circumstances of success and failures. A discussion of the detectable trends of institutional reforms during democratic crises and some tentative explanations are finally provided.
Italy is depicted as a populist promised land. Especially within Western Europe, Italy is an outl... more Italy is depicted as a populist promised land. Especially within Western Europe, Italy is an outlier in terms of support for and varieties of populist parties. Yet, common explanations of populism do not fully account for the Italian exceptionality, while several single-country studies either have time-wise limited scopes or present anecdotical evidence. This article contributes by providing a novel interpretation of Italian populism since 1945 through a three-step process. First, the Italian populist success is theoretically linked to societal anti-parliamentarism and anti-elitism, whose roots date back to the formation of the unitary state and its institutional weakness. Second, it is argued that traditional intra-country differences in terms of voting behavior still matter when it comes to providing the opportunity structure for populist parties. Finally, a preliminary empirical analysis shows that – in line with expectations – different political traditions across the national territory are likely to determine the success of specific types of populism. The findings are relevant for the generation of new hypotheses about the societal origins of contemporary populist parties.
In West European context, the first fully-fledged populist government that entered office in Ital... more In West European context, the first fully-fledged populist government that entered office in Italy in 2018 (Conte I) has been presented as a peculiar case. After discussing party dilemmas within coalitions, the article analyses – in comparative perspective – the way in which the two partners M5S and League managed inter-party relations despite their divergent policy preferences. The work focuses on both structural and dynamic mechanisms of coalition governance. Particular attention is paid to the coalition agreement, which is compared to the benchmark case of the German Merkel IV cabinet. Findings show that the Conte I cabinet diverged from the Italian tradition, but approached other European models, despite its rhetoric of exceptionality. Yet, poor definition of policy goals and ambiguous governance mechanisms are observed
Quaderni di Scienza Politica, 2019
Over the years, Eurosceptic parties have grown in both number and electoral support, together wit... more Over the years, Eurosceptic parties have grown in both number and electoral support, together with the politicisation of European Union (EU) integration cleavage within European national polities. The term Euroscepticism denotes different aspects and degrees of opposition to the EU. For example, criticisms can point to institutions, policies, procedures, actors, as well as the integration project per se. Moreover, Euroscepticism can refer to either voters or elites. In this article, we focus on national political parties. We propose a narrow conceptualisation of Euroscepticism, by linking this concept to the concept of anti-system party. Based on several indicators, we measure the success of Euroscepticism in the member states. In our analysis, we ask why anti-system parties emerge and gain votes in some European countries, and not in others. The empirical part of the article presents a preliminary configurational analysis of necessary and sufficient conditions of Euroscepticism and related electoral successes.
(co-authored with Fortunato Musella) The emergence of personalized party organizations has called... more (co-authored with Fortunato Musella) The emergence of personalized party organizations has called for a redefinition of the concept of party institutionalization (PI). This article brings different strands of literature together and proposes a new multidimensional index of PI. PI is conceived of as the interplay of objective and internal party features with the external environment. The viability of the index is tested through its application to a prominent case of personal party, the Italian Five Star Movement (5SM). Through a detailed analysis of its history, we show that the 5SM has become more institution-alized over time; however, this has especially affected its external facet, while other specific party traits have been less involved. Findings suggest that the stabilization of internal structures to connect party echelon and rank-and-file remains a challenge
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Books by Michelangelo Vercesi
Journal Articles by Michelangelo Vercesi
The introduction summarizes the main trends and presents and discuss systematic data overviews.