Since the recession, Italy has a political system that had changed.

After forty years of political and governmental stagnation, the Italian political system is undergoing a major transition. The reforms of the electoral laws have obliged all political actors to redefine their positions, to transform their programs, and to search for allies. The consequences of the electoral and institutional changes are visible on three levels. Political parties are declining. They are replaced by coalitions and yield power on the one hand to candidates, on the to voters. Candidates personalize politics and renew the political class. Politicians who live of politics, and on resources extracted from politics, are disappearing. Politicians who live for politics, devoting to it their time and competence, make their appearance. The new politics may also bring governmental alternation.