Editing Politics of Italy (section)

== Democratic performance ==
Italy is generally described as a high-performing or middling democracy by [[democracy indices]]. The Economist described Italy as a flawed democracy in its 2024 Democracy Index, notably due to Italy's bad 'political culture' (6.88 out of 10 points). This measures popular support for democracy as opposed to military or expert rule.<ref name=":0" /><sup>:11,16</sup> By contrast, Italy received almost full marks for its 'electoral process and pluralism' (9.58 points). In the global ranking, Italy came in 37th place.<ref name=":0" /> Similarly, according to the 2025 [[V-Dem Democracy indices]] Italy was the 30th most liberal democratic country in the world. It scored top 4 in the world for participative democracy, i.e. active citizen participation via civil society and local elections.<ref name="vdem_dataset" />

[[Freedom in the World|Freedom House]] qualified Italy as free with 89 out of 100 points in 2024, citing its competitive multiparty elections and general granting of civil liberties. For press freedom however, Freedom House awarded Italy only five out of six points, citing common defamation suits against journalists with serious financial costs for defendants, even if acquitted after a lengthy procedure.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Italy: Freedom on the Net 2024 Country Report |url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/italy/freedom-net/2024#C |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=Freedom House |language=en}}</ref> The think tank also raised substantial concerns about [[LGBTQ rights in Italy|Italian LGBT]] and migrant rights, substantial regional inequalities and endemic [[corruption in Italy]] and organised crime.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Italy: Country Profile |url=https://freedomhouse.org/country/italy |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=Freedom House |language=en}}</ref> Global State of Democracy classified Italy as a high-range performer in all categories, except for the rule of law. As an example of flawed rule of law, the ranking cites that the central government reassigned the judges responsible for migrant detention, in what the opposition called retaliation.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Italy - December 2024 {{!}} The Global State of Democracy |url=https://www.idea.int/democracytracker/report/italy/december-2024 |access-date=2025-03-21 |website=www.idea.int}}</ref> The [[Polity data series|Polity project]] describes Italy as a full democracy (10 out of 10) since 1948.<ref>{{Cite web |date=2018 |title=Polity5 Annual Time-Series, 1946-2018 |url=https://www.systemicpeace.org/polity/Italy2010.pdfv}}</ref>