Abstract

The appearance in many European countries of anti-system parties questioning contemporary democracies on their health. The Italian case is distinguished especially in connection with a crisis of form and role of the political party. By an historical and theoretical analysis, this article aims to explain the reasons why the canons of elitist thinking can help to clarify the causes of this crisis and the conceptual paradigms of democratic elitism can provide valuable tools for recovery of representativeness and authority in the Italian political system, opposing the populist tendencies that have long beset it.