Political Parties, Political Money and Interest Groups in Italy: The Changing Connective Capability of Political Actors in the past Thirty Years

Despite the dramatic evidence of their decline (in terms of membership, trust, and ideological perspective), political parties still represent the most important collective actor in a democratic political system. Their role in representing pluralism and their electoral centrality is not undermined, even if strongly questioned. As organization, parties have to face areas of uncertainty that request suitable answers and efficient organizational choices. Taking the challenge as representative actors, in this paper I will focus on the capacity of parties to mobilize resources: financial resources in particular. Through the analysis of private financial donations to political parties in Italy –in determinant election years as 1987, 1994, and 2013- I will try to assess their connective capability with specific interests representatives in order to provide evidence of their changing representational role. According to the literature on the cartel party model, I should find fairly distant relations and cross-party donors, and this evidence should be stronger in recent years. The focus on the private political money allow us to take into consideration the neglected role of external donors in a society characterised by a strong public financing. The evidence provided suggests that a change in the representational dynamics of parties should be understood also through the variation in their financial roots.