Junior partner no more: how the growth of the Lega Nord could reshape the right in Italy

In recent decades, the right of Italy’s party system has been dominated by Silvio Berlusconi, who currently heads a revived version of his Forza Italia party. As Daniele Albertazzi writes, however, Forza Italia has been pushed into fourth place in several opinion polls in 2015 by the growth of the Northern League (Lega Nord), which has traditionally advocated a political platform focused on the interests of regions in northern Italy. He notes that the party’s rise in popularity, which has been coupled with a strategy to win support in central and southern Italy, could indicate the start of an important shift in the Italian right.