‘Presidentialisations’ in Italy: The battle for leadership between the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic

In Italy, the process of presidentialisation seems to have affected both the Prime Minister and the President of the Republic. But, while the former seems still to struggle with the vetoes of his majority, the latter has appeared capable of exerting considerable power of influence upon the other actors of the political system. In this article, I will try to analyse these developments by examining the relationship between popular legitimacy and leadership in the context of ‘mediatised’ democracy. Leaders enjoying the confidence of a majority of citizens can in fact control the dynamics of opinion to impose their political agendas and set the terms of public debate. Yet, their legitimacy has been increasingly fuelled by the media. I will then argue that the popular legitimacy of either the Prime Minister or the President depends on how effectively they are able to play their roles and perform their duties as far as public opinion is concerned in accordance with models embodied in the Italian political culture. I will also try to illustrate how the combination of public expectations and the institutional structure of the political system makes it extremely difficult for the Prime Minister to preserve the legitimacy obtained during parliamentary elections, on the one hand; whilst, on the other, it seems to allow the President to enjoy popular support cutting across party divisions, thus creating a strong degree of asymmetry in the distribution of a resource essential to the exercise of genuine political leadership.