The former Italian prime minister Silvio Berlusconi was the most controversial leading politician in Europe. This is a sharp examination of the Berlusconi phenomenon, explaining the development of his former ruling coalition and how it proved so successful despite heavy domestic and international criticism.

Each of the three main partners in the former ruling coalition - Berlusconi's Forza Italia party, the 'post-fascist' National Alliance and the Lega Nord - are examined in detail and the discussion is framed in a comparative perspective, exploring the nature of the Italian...

Integrating newcomers and minorities into the social fabric of receiving countries has become one of the crucial challenges of contemporary Western societies. This volume seeks to understand patterns of changing institutional practices and public policies where the challenges of including cultural diversity into the social fabric are most pronounced: namely the health care system. In recent years, pro-migrant organizations and anti-racist activists have repeatedly voiced and politicized demands to improve migrants' access to the health-care system giving rise to a lively debate about...