Government laws and the opposition parties' behaviour in parliament

Previous research has proved that a high level of consensus in the law-making process can be found in the European parliamentary democracies. This consensual pattern of behaviour cannot be explained by the systemic factors traditionally believed to account for the variation in the opposition among countries. The Italian case demonstrates that none of the noteworthy changes that occurred in the political system over the last 20 years have affected the amount of consensus between government and opposition. The aim of the present article is to explore which factors might influence the (more or less) consensual conduct of the Italian parliamentary opposition in the law-making process and, in doing so, to contribute to the progress of research in this field.