Italy has always been notorious for the rate at which its governments rise and fall, but underlying the instability of its cabinets was a remarkable stability in the broader party system. In the 1992 general elections, this stability dissolved amidst other troubling signs that the political system had reached a decisive turning point. The Lombard League, with a mixture of anti-southern and anti-government rhetoric, had become a principal political force in the North, shattering old equilibria. The League's fortunes were helped by the most extensive corruption scandal of the postwar period, which deeply compromised the already tarnished images of the governing parties. The Christian Democrats underwent a convulsive change of leadership and the seemingly unshakable grip of Bettino Craxi over the Socialist Party, which he had totally dominated since 1976, was seriously challenged. The country continued to be plagued by reminders of how little control the state exercises in certain areas. On two separate occasions the men named as the country's leading anti-mafia judges were murdered. A decade-old mystery about the apparent shooting down of a civilian airliner revealed incompetence and cover-ups in the highest reaches of power. And the country continued to lumber towards its rendezvous with the EC amidst a chronic debt and currency problem. All of the above, and other topics as well, are covered in the eighth volume of this series on contemporary Italian politics, which is produced in collaboration with the Carlo Cattaneo Institute. The contributors are leading experts in their respective fields from North America and Europe.