Mario Caciagli is Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Florence.

Introduction: The Year before the Elections
Mario Caciagli and Alan S. Zuckerman

Chapter 1. Premiership and Leadership from D'Alema to Amato and Beyond
Gianfranco Pasquino

Chapter 2. The Congress of the Democrats of the Left
Paolo Bellucci, Marco Maraffi and Paolo Segatti

Chapter 3. The Center of the Center-Left Coalition
Carlo Baccetti

Chapter 4. The Regions in Search of a New Institutional Identity
Gianfranco Baldini and Salvatore Vassallo  

Chapter 5. Italian Politics: the European Commission under Romano Prodi
Jeffrey Anderson

Chapter 6. Antonio Bassolino: From Mayor of Naples to President of Campania
Felia Allum and Marco Cilento

Chapter 7. The Restructuring of the National Health Service: The Bindi Reform and Fiscal Federalism
Franca Maino

Chapter 8. The Great Jubilee of Pope Wojtyla
Gianfranco Brunelli 

Chapter 9. Road Safety: An Emerging Public Policy
Rodolfo Lewanski

Chapter 10. Immigration or Integration? Examining Political Events in the Year 2000
Harlan Koff

Chapter 11. A New Confindustria for a New Model of Italian Capitalism
Vincent Della Sala

Documentary Appendix
Compiled by Debora Mantovani

Italian politics continue to chart new institutional paths. As governments change without the apparent instability of previous decades, political parties transform themselves and personalist modes of governance emerge. New policy concerns - immigration and highway safety - join with perennial concerns - health reform, regional governments, and economic policy. A former Prime Minister, Roman Prodi, now serves as President of the European Commission, highlighting Italy's deepening integration into the European Union. The volume addresses core themes in the institutional transformation of the Italian Republic.