The Italian parliament was dissolved on December 28, in preparation for the March 4, 2018 general election. If indications from recent regional contests and the polls are to be believed, the Democrats, today in government together with small centrist parties, are set for a historic defeat.

But what will follow them? International coverage has focused on the Five Star Movement (M5S), a populist post-crash formation which leads in the polls but seems unlikely to be able to form a coalition. A more plausible scenario is the return to prominence of Silvio Berlusconi, whose Forza Italia party is at the head of a right-wing recovery. Then there is the potential drama of another hung parliament.

Is Italy about to plunge the eurozone into fresh crisis? And after years of economic stagnation and massive youth unemployment, what are the signs of hope? Jacobin‘s David Broder reports from Rome.