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In 2003, the government headed by Silvio Berlusconi attempted to take Italian public policy in a new direction. In social and labor market policy it challenged concertation; in foreign policy, it tried to transform the country's traditional Europeanist position into a pro-Atlantic stance; within the European Union, it promoted an inter-governmental position. The government's plans to alter the status quo did not always succeed, due to tensions within the majority. The opposition, in the meantime, mobilized around the issue of peace and the Iraq war. European Commission President Romano Prodi responded to the Ulivo coalition's fragmentation by proposing a unitary list for the 2004 European elections. There were also repeated attempts to change the features of public policy and political competition, countered by noteworthy forms of resistance.

Sergio Fabbrini is Professor in the Faculty of Sociology at the University of Trento, where he teaches Political Science. He is editor of the Rivista Italiana di Scienza Politica. He has recently edited L'europeizzazione dell'Italia. L'impatto dell'Unione europea sulle istituzioni e le politiche italiane (Laterza, 2003).

Vincent Della Sala is Associate Professor in the Facolty of Sociology and the School of International Studies at the University of Trento where he teaches political science. His recent publications have focused on questions related to European and international political economy.