Trade Unions and Political Parties in Italy (1946–2014): Ideological Positions and Critical Junctures

The paper investigates party-union relationships in Italy (1946\u20132014) by hand-coding parties\u2019 parliamentary speeches and trade unions\u2019 congress motions. In line with the cartel party thesis, a time series analysis shows that the ideological closeness between the leftwing Italian General Confederation of Labour and left-wing parties deteriorated when the Italian Socialist Party (1980) and the heirs of the Italian Communist Party (1998) converged toward the centre of the ideological spectrum. Conversely, the closeness between the Catholic-inspired Italian Confederation of Workers\u2019 Unions and the heirs of Christian Democracy increased after 1994, when the former party\u2019s leftist factions became the major part of the Italian Popular Party