La professionalizzazione della democrazia: la consulenza politica italiana

This PhD research thesis aims to study the development of the political consulting activities and its actors in Italy by means a qualitative-quantitative research design approach. This field of investigation is still uncovered by the Italian scholars, since partial and specific bodies of research carried out so far do not offer an extensive overview on the transformations in this particular field of post-modern politics and campaigning. This research, therefore, aims to examine the Italian political consulting as a product of the professionalization process within the national democratic system, in order to better understand the role played by these practices in the relationship among the rules of representative democracy, public opinion formation and the «hybrid media system». Two main research questions have led the work: 1. Is it possible to find and then to define a professionalization path of political consulting in Italy? If so, which trajectory and form has it assumed? 2. How can political consulting be defined? What are the ideas of this work, roles assumed and functions performed by the various professionals in this field? Starting from the review of the related international academic literature, the research has tried to understand whether or not, even in Italy, the counselling phenomenon has completed the professionalization process of democracy. In doing that, it was taken into account the various factors that characterise the national political scenario. Finally, the work has tried to provide a definition and also a typology (composed of four types) of Italian political consulting outlining a kind of phenomenology of the professional activities performed into the field by the consultants interviewed in this empirical research.