Personal or personalized? The evolution of the Italian Democratic Party (Partito Democratico): 2007-2015

In recent decades, the process of the personalization of politics has become increasingly central in liberal democracies. This article provides a theoretical framework for evaluating the level of personalization of a political party, focusing on different dimensions such as party organization, parliamentary behaviour, communication. The hypothesis, that will be discussed, proposes to distinguish between two models of party: the personal party and the personalized party. These two party models are both characterized by the centrality of political leaders and personalities, but they differ as regards their organization and communication both internally and externally. By analysing the case of the Italian Democratic Party, the article enable to better understand the evolution of this party and to evaluate the heuristic capacity of the theoretical framework in relation to the broader debate on the changes of political parties in contemporary western democracies.