Richard S. Katz is professor and chair of the Political Science Department at the State University of New York at Buffalo. Piero Ignazi is senior lecturer of comparative politics in the Faculty of Political Science at the University of Bologna.

• 1 Introduction, 2 Forza Italia: The Overwhelming Success and the Consequent Problems of a Virtual Party, 3 From the Ghetto to Palazzo Chigi: The Ascent of the National Alliance, 4 The Failure of the Progressive Alliance, 5 The 1994 Elections, 6 The New Members of Parliament, 7 The First Majoritarian Parliament, 8 Mani Pulite, Year III, 9 The New Foreign Policy, 10 The Uncertain Path of Privatization, 11 Politics and Karaoke, 12 RAI and Fininvest in the Year of Berlusconi