A new political crisis is taking place in Italy, and once again the country's leaders are making decisions without involving voters. More important, it exemplifies the larger crisis of representation in Europe. On Thursday, the ruling Democratic Party voted to withdraw its support for Prime Minister Enrico Letta, opening the door for party leader Matteo Renzi to become Italy's new prime minister. Letta is expected to present his resignation Friday, and Renzi should be confirmed by a confidence vote in the parliament shortly thereafter, becoming the third Italian prime minister in two years to be appointed without elections. Clearly, Italy's largest political parties are worried about the unpredictability of elections at a time when most voters are upset with their leaders.

Political instability is nothing new to Italy, which boasts the third-largest economy in the eurozone, but the European crisis is taking it to new levels. In late 2011, former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, under pressure from the European Union, resigned after weeks of political tension in the Italian Parliament. Berlusconi was replaced by Mario Monti, a technocrat who was appointed by the Parliament rather than elected by the people. At the time, Italy's mainstream parties, the center-left Democratic Party and the center-right People of Freedom party, supported Monti's government, but the fragile alliance lasted only a little more than a year, and new elections were held in February 2013.

After the elections, no party had enough seats in the parliament to form a government. But what was perhaps most striking about the results was that the Five Star Movement, an anti-establishment party that based its campaign in a strong criticism of Italy's ruling elites, garnered more votes than any other party — a clear sign of just how upset Italians were with their leaders.

To avoid new elections, mainstream parties in the center-left and the center-right decided to resume their tenuous coalition. And so Letta was appointed prime minister even though he had not been a candidate in the elections. Like Monti's, Letta's government was on the verge of collapse at its inception; both parties threatened to withdraw their support for the prime minister in exchange for political concessions. When Berlusconi was expelled from the Parliament, and the center-right split into two smaller parties, it looked as if Letta's government could survive.

But the deathblow to his government came from within his own party. In late 2013 Renzi, the mayor of Florence, was elected secretary-general of the Democratic Party. He started to behave as Italy's leader from the beginning, proposing a reform to the country's electoral law and constitution and presenting measures to boost the economy in parallel with Letta's government agenda. Renzi's final effort to undermine Letta took place Thursday, when he urged his party to withdraw its support for the government. After the Democratic Party voted out Letta's government, Renzi said new elections "would not solve Italy's problems."

Though completely legal, the succession of unelected prime ministers only accentuates the disparity between the Italians and their leaders. While members of Italy's mainstream political parties fight over public positions, the country's economy continues to deteriorate. A recent report by Italy's official statistics agency revealed that a rising number of Italian families are living in poverty. In 2013, a record number of businesses filed for bankruptcy. Declining consumption and restriction on credit are making it difficult for small and medium-sized enterprises — the backbone of the Italian economy — to survive. Italy is in recession and unemployment is on the rise.

This explains why protests have become more frequent over the past year. It also explains why grassroots movements such as the Pitchforks evolved from a regional phenomenon to a nationwide one capable of paralyzing Italian roads and highways for a week. The main political parties are afraid of being voted out of power, so they will do whatever they can to delay elections. But Italian governments are becoming increasingly ineffective because the only thing that unites the elites is their fear of losing power.

The Italian ruling class, which also includes trade unions and employer associations, is increasingly involved in the machinations of the political elite, further divorcing itself from the reality of the population. The European Union largely tolerates Italy: Officials in Brussels are worried that Italy's traditional elites, who are at least nominally committed to the EU reform agenda, could be replaced by their anti-establishment adversaries.

Although this phenomenon is particularly acute in Italy, it is occurring elsewhere in Europe. Crises make strange bedfellows, and in several EU countries the traditional elites are fighting for their survival. In Greece, the economic crisis forced two traditional rivals, the center-right New Democracy and center-left Panhellenic Socialist Movement, to form an uncomfortable coalition to remain in power. Like their Italian counterparts, Greek leaders fear the rise of anti-establishment parties, embodied by the far left Syriza and the far right Golden Dawn. While the situation in Italy is not as dire as it is in Greece, Italian leaders are beginning to feel threatened too.

The European crisis can be explained as a crisis of representation and leadership. The gap between voters and leaders has grown steadily since the beginning of the crisis, as evidenced by the growth of the anti-system parties and grassroots groups. A growing number of voters do not feel represented by their leaders and seek political alternatives, many of which reject foundational elements of the European Union, including the free movement of goods or people. Voters will punish the ruling elites in many countries in the May European Parliament elections, and the consequences could be even more serious next time national elections take place.

One of the most important Italian novels written in the 20th century was The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa. The book chronicles the political and social changes that Sicily experienced during Italian unification in the 1860s and how the local elites managed to stay in power by adapting to the evolving political realities. Reflecting on Italy's evolution, one of the main characters said, "If we want things to stay the same, things will have to change." This philosophy informed the decisions of Italian rulers for decades, but the crisis is threatening their survival. The traditional political parties consider that a name change will be enough for them to remain in power. On the streets, a growing number of Italians disagree.