Introduction: Governing under Constraint

The 2016 volume of italian Politics looks and assesses the events of the previous year, 2015, summarily indicated as a year of governing under constraint. The introduction offers an overview of the chapters containe din the volume, but also offers a distinct reading of the second year of the Renzi government of its own. In particular, it assesses positively the dynamism with which many reforms have been initiated and brought forward and the attempt to tread a narrow path between internal and external contraints. The overall assessment is positive, even though at least two lacunae have been identified: foreign policy, which in 2015 was still only tentatively conducted, and attention towards the south and the periheries.