The forms of government have been a central and constant theme in the scientific elaboration of Leopoldo Elia. In his way of thinking on this subject, four aspects must be underlined: the close interconnection between forms of government and forms of state; the impact of the party system on the classification or functioning of forms of government (with particular reference to the parliamentary one); the identification of main criteria in the qualification of forms of government and the distinction between these and variable factors that influence their functioning; the criticism of constitutional reforms focus on the popular election of the executive power and on plebiscitary shortcuts and the preference for the rationalization of the parliamentary form of government.