Why so stable? Understanding the exceptional longevity of the Meloni government
Abstract
Abstract Italy has long been a textbook case of government instability. Against this backdrop, the exceptional longevity of the Meloni government marks a clear reversal. However, the cabinet is ruling under the same institutional constraints that once made Italian governments short-lived and fragile. In this study, I seek to make sense of this exceptional stability tracing how potential stabilizing mechanisms have jointly operated across all the stages of the coalition life-cycle framework. Stability, I argue, has resulted from the convergence of multiple stabilizing mechanisms that have seldom aligned simultaneously in the Italian context. The main lesson from this deviant case lies in a paradox: Italy's most durable government in decades is promoting a constitutional reform intended to enhance stability, even though cohesive and disciplined coalitions can already achieve it without altering institutional rules.
Fields of Study & Subjects
Political Systems and Governance
Populism
Right-Wing Movements
Electoral Systems and Political Participation
Publication details
- Journal / source
- Italian Political Science Review/Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica
- Publisher
- Cambridge University Press (CUP)
- Volume
- 56
- Issue
- 2
- Pages
- 142–152
- Publication date
- 5 March 2026
- Language
- EN