The political inclusion of the expatriates (and their descendants) in Italy reached a climax with the approval of the 2000-2001 Laws, by which Italian residents abroad can now elect six senators and twelve deputies in representation of the ‘abroad’ district, divided into four geographic constituencies – Europe, South America, North America, and Asia-Africa-Oceania.

Il voto degli altri describes for the first time in detail the social and political profiles of Italy’s overseas voters and MPs. Written by scholars of different disciplinary backgrounds, the chapters of this edited book analyse how and why Italian policymakers decided to introduce the 2000-2001 legislation after a lengthy debate that started already in the first half of the 20th century; how a system of representation of the so called ‘Italians abroad’ historically evolved in the different areas of settlement; the electoral campaigns and election results of 2006 and 2008 general elections.

The progressive institutional inclusion of Italian residents abroad is compared with the experiences of other countries and assessed in the light of the most recent literature on matter of external citizenship and voting rights. The book aims to contribute to the scholarly debate as well as to a reform of the current overseas voting system, which has proved to be flawed and based on an essentialist understanding of the ‘other’ Italians.

Publication details and link to source: Guido Tintori (ed.), ‘Il voto degli altri. Rappresentanza e scelte elettorali degli italiani all’estero’, Rosenber & Sellier, 2012.