Abstract

Primary elections are a relatively recent innovation in Europe. Their application is associated with specific circumstances (timing, type of organizing party, democratic regime, etc.), and therefore their adoption is associated with some circumstances that causes a certain level of heterogeneity at the European level. In this perspective, Italy is an important example, since the temporal continuity of its experience with primaries has made it a reference point in the framework of the studies on this topic. The aim of this chapter is to analyze how this instrument became rooted in Italian politics and how it developed. In order to be able to do so, we should focus on the political context before primary elections and understand what the political, social and cultural milieu was that led to the development primary elections.