History of the Italian Republic

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After World War II and the overthrow of Mussolini's fascist regime, Italy's history was dominated by the Christian Democracy (Democrazia Cristiana, DC) political party for 50 years, while the opposition was led by the Italian Communist Party (PCI); this situation prevailed until the crisis of the Soviet Union and the Tangentopoli scandal and operation Mani pulite, which led to the reform of the electoral system (from almost perfect proportional to uninominal/multiseat circonscriptions) and radical restructuring of the Italian political system, including the dissolution of most traditional political parties.

In 1994, in the midst of the mani pulite operation which shook political parties, media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, owner of three private TV channels, won the elections, becoming one of Italy's most important political and economic figures for the next decade. Ousted after a few months of government, he returned to power in 2001, lost the 2006 general election five years later to Romano Prodi and his Union coalition but won the 2008 general election and returned to power in June 2008.

Contents

The Birth of the Republic (1946)

In the final phases of World War II, the discredited king Victor Emmanuel III tried to raise the prestige of the monarchy by nominating his son and heir Umberto II "general lieutenant of the kingdom" and promising that after the end of the war the Italian people could choose its form of government through a referendum. In April 1945, the Allies advanced in the Po plain (supported by the Italian anti-fascist resistance), defeating the fascist Salò Republic, a puppet state instituted by Nazi Germany.

The Italian monarchy was abolished by a popular referendum held on 2 June 1946. A new constitution was written for the new republic, taking effect on January 1, 1948. The referendum at the origin of the Italian republic was, however, the object of deep discussion, mainly because of some contested results and of the deep divide which emerged between the North (where the Republic won a clear majority) and the South (where the monarchists gained the majority).

Elections after World War II (1946–1948)

In 1946, the main Italian political parties were:

Each party had run separate candidates in the 1946 general election, and the Christian Democrats won a plurality of votes. The PSI and the PCI received some ministerial posts in a Christian Democrat–led coalition cabinet. PCI’s leader Palmiro Togliatti was minister of Justice. However, as in France where Maurice Thorez and four other communist ministers were forced to leave Paul Ramadier's government during the May 1947 crisis, both the Italian Communists (PCI) and Socialists (PSI) were excluded from government the same month under Harry Truman's pressures.

Since the PSI and the PCI together received more votes than the Christian Democrats, they decided to unite in 1948 to form the Popular Democratic Front (FDP). The 1948 general elections were heavily influenced by the then flaring cold-war confrontation between the Soviet Union and the US. After the Soviet-inspired February 1948 communist coup in Czechoslovakia the US became alarmed about Soviet intentions and feared that the Soviet funded [1][2] PCI would draw Italy into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence if the leftist coalition were to win the elections. In response, on March 1948 the United States National Security Council issued its first document proffering recommendations to avoid such an outcome which were widely and energetically implemented. Ten million letters were sent by mostly Italian Americans urging Italians not to vote communist. US agencies made numerous short-wave propaganda radio broadcasts and funded the publishing of books and articles, warning the Italians of the perceived consequences of a communist victory. The CIA also funded the centre-right political parties and was accused of publishing forged letters in order to discredit the leaders of the PCI. The PCI itself was accused of being funded by Moscow and the Cominform, and in particular via export deals to the Communist countries.[3]

Fears in the Italian electorate of a possible Communist takeover proved crucial for the electoral outcome on the 18th of April; the Christian Democrats (Democrazia Cristiana), under the undisputed leadership of Alcide De Gasperi won a resounding victory with 48 percent of the vote (their best result ever, and not repeated since) while the FDP only received 31 percent of the votes. The Communist party widely outdid the Socialists in the distribution of seats in Parliament, and gained a solid position as the main opposition party in Italy, even if it would never return in government. For almost four decades, Italian elections were successively won by the Democrazia Cristiana (DC) centrist party.

The First Republic (1947-1992)

Under the 1947 peace treaty, minor adjustments were made to Italy's frontier with France, the eastern border area was transferred to Yugoslavia, and the area around the city of Trieste was designated a free territory. In 1954, the free territory, which had remained under the administration of U.S.–UK forces (Zone A, including the city of Trieste) and Yugoslav forces (Zone B), was divided between Italy and Yugoslavia, principally along the zonal boundary. Italy also lost its colonial Empire, except Somalia, which formed the object of a UN trusteeship mandate, expiring in 1960.

In the fifties Italy became a member of the NATO alliance and an ally of the United States, which helped to revive the Italian economy through the Marshall Plan. In the same years, Italy also became a member of the European Economic Community (EEC), which later transformed into the European Union (EU). At the end of the fifties an impressive economic growth was termed "Economic Miracle", a term that is still recognized in Italian politics (Silvio Berlusconi won the 1994 elections promising a new "Miracle").

During the First Republic, the Christian Democracy slowly but steadily lost support, as society modernised and the traditional values at its ideological core became less appealing to the population. The Christian Democracy's main support areas (sometimes known as "vote tanks") were the rural areas in South, Center and North-East Italy, whereas the industrial North-West had more left-leaning support because of the larger working class. An interesting exception were the "red regions" (Emilia Romagna, Tuscany, Umbria) where the Italian Communist Party (and the Democrats of the Left after them) has historically had a wide support. This is considered a consequence of the particular share-cropping ("mezzadria") farming contracts used in these regions.

The Vatican actively supported the Christian Democracy, claiming it would be a "mortal and unforgivable" sin for a Catholic to vote for the Communist party and excommunicating outright all its supporters. In practice, however, many Communists remained religious: Emilia was known to be an area where people were both religious and communists. Giovanni Guareschi wrote his novels about Don Camillo describing a village, Brescello, whose inhabitants are at the same time loyal to priest Camillo and communist mayor Giuseppe Bottazzi, who are fierce rivals.

In the 1950s, several important reforms were launched: e.g. agrarian reform (legge Scelba), fiscal reform (legge Vanoni), and the country enjoyed a period of extraordinary economic development ("miracolo economico", e.g. economic miracle). In this period of time, a massive population transfer, from the impoverished South to the booming industrial North, took place. This however exacerbated social contrasts, including between the old-established "worker aristocracy" and the new less qualified immigrants ("operaio-massa") of Southern origin.

Following the 1963 Ciaculli massacre in the suburbs of Palermo, which killed seven police and military officers sent to defuse it after an anonymous phone call, the Italian Parliament voted a December 1962 law which created an Antimafia Commission. The massacre had taken place in the frame of the first Mafia War in the 1960s, with the bomb intended for Salvatore Greco, head of the Sicilian Mafia Commission formed in the late 1950s. The mafia was fighting for the control of the profitable opportunities brought about by rapid urban growth and the heroin trade to North America. The ferocity of the struggle was unprecedented, reaping 68 victims from 1961 to 1963. The Antimafia Commission submitted its final report in 1976. The mafia had created ties with the politician world. The period 1958-1964, when Salvo Lima (DC) was mayor of Palermo and Vito Ciancimino (DC) was assessor for public works, was later referred to as the "Sack of Palermo".

In 1965, the SIFAR intelligence agency was transformed into the SID following an aborted coup d'état, Piano Solo, which was to give the power to the Carabinieri, then headed by General De Lorenzo.

The 1950s and 1960s

The shrinking support for the Christian Democrats eventually caused the entry of the Socialist party in the government. The Socialist party had moved, from a position of total subordination to the Communists, to a position of relative autonomy after the 1956 events in Hungary. The possibility of extending the parliamentary majority to the Socialists ("apertura a sinistra") became the main subject of political debate. While right-wing forces deeply opposed it, reformists, social-democrats, progressives, and Catholics supported it. It was thought that a series much-needed reforms ("riforme di struttura") would definitely modernize the country and create a modern social-democracy.

In 1960, an attempt by the right-wing Christian Democrats to find a new parliamentary majority by incorporating the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) in the Tambroni government led to violent and bloody riots (Genoa, Reggio Emilia), and was defeated. The PSI (Italian Socialist Party) entered government in 1963.

While some important reforms were enacted (nationalization of electric power production; high school reform, introduction of a single junior high school; taxation of financial benefits e.a.), the reformist drive was soon lost, and the most important problems (mafia, social inequalities, inefficient state/social services, North/South imbalance) remained untackled.

The difficult equilibrium of Italian society was challenged by a rising left-wing movement, in the wake of student unrest ("Sessantotto").

This movement was characterized by such heterogeneous events as revolts by jobless farm workers (Avola, Battipaglia 1969), occupations of Universities by students, social unrest in the large Northern factories ("autunno caldo"of 1969). While conservative forces tried to roll back some of the social advances of the sixties, and part of the military indulged in "sabre rattling" in order to intimidate progressive political forces, numerous left-wing activists became increasingly frustrated at social inequalities, while the myth of guerrilla (Che Guevara, the Uruguayan Tupamaros) and of the Chinese Maoist "cultural revolution" increasingly inspired extreme left-wing violent movements.

Social protests, in which the student movement was particularly active, shook Italy during the 1969 autunno caldo (Hot Autumn), leading to the occupation of the Fiat factory in Turin. In March 1968, clashes occurred at La Sapienza university in Rome, during the "Battle of Valle Giulia." Mario Capanna, associated with the New Left, was one of the figures of the student movement, along with the members of Potere Operaio and Autonomia Operaia such as (Antonio Negri, Oreste Scalzone, Franco Piperno and of Lotta Continua such as Adriano Sofri.

The period or the late 1960 - 1970s came to be known as the Opposti Estremismi, (from left-wing and right-wing extremists riots), later renamed anni di piombo ("years of lead (Italy)") because of a wave of bombings and shootings — the first victim of this period was Antonio Annarumma, a policeman, killed on November 12, 1969 in Milan during a left-wing demonstration.

In December, four bombings struck in Rome the Monument of Vittorio Emanuele II (Altare della Patria), the Banca Nazionale del Lavoro, and in Milan the Banca Commerciale and the Banca Nazionale dell'Agricoltura. The later bombing, known as the Piazza Fontana bombing of 12 December 1969, killed 16 and injured 90.

The 1970s and 1980s

On May 17, 1972, police officer Luigi Calabresi, who was subsequently awarded a gold medal of the Italian Republic for civil valour, was assassinated in Milan. Sixteen years later, Adriano Sofri, Giorgio Pietrostefani and Ovidio Bompressi and Leonardo Marino were arrested in Milan, accused by the confession of Leonardo Marino, one of the participants in the assassination. Highly controversial, the trial concluded, after an alternance of convictions and acquittals, to their guilt.

During a ceremony in honour of Luigi Calabresi, where the Interior Minister Mariano Rumor was present, on 17 May 1973, an anarchist, Gianfranco Bertoli, threw a bomb killing four and injuring 45.

Count Edgardo Sogno revealed in his memoirs that in July 1974, he visited the CIA station chief in Rome to inform him of the preparation of a neo-fascist coup. Asking him what the US government would do in case of such an operation, Sogno wrote that the CIA responsible for Italy answered him that: "the United States would have supported any initiative tending to keep the communists out of government." General Maletti declared, in 2001, that he had not known about Sogno's relations to the CIA and had not been informed of the coup, known as Golpe bianco (White Coup), and prepared with Randolfo Pacciardi [4].

General Vito Miceli, chief of the SIOS military intelligence agency from 1969 on, and head of the SID from 1970 to 1974, was arrested in 1974 on charges of "conspiration against the state." Following his arrest, the Italian secret services were reorganized with a 24 October 1977 law in a democratic attempt of regaining civilian and parliamentary control of them. The SID was divided into the current SISMI, the SISDE and the CESIS, which had a coordination role and was directly led by the President of the Council. Furthermore, an Parliamentary Committee on Secret services control (Copaco) was created at the same occasion.

The 1977 was the year with the most terrorist actions.

Aldo Moro's 1978 murder

Main article: Aldo Moro

Christian democrat Aldo Moro was assassinated in May 1978 by the Red Brigades, a terrorist leftist group then led by Mario Moretti. Before his murder, Aldo Moro, a central figure in the Christian democrat Party, several times Prime minister, was trying to include the Communist Party, headed by Enrico Berlinguer, in the parliamentary majority, an operation called the historic compromise. At this point, the PCI was the largest communist party in western Europe; this was largely due to its reformist orientation, to its growing independence from Moscow and to the new eurocommunism doctrine. The communist party was especially strong in Central Italy, in the three "red regions" (Tuscany, Emilia-Romagna, Umbria) which it had administered rather efficiently, as well as other local administrations, since the post-war years.

In the period of terror attacks of the late 70s and early 80s, the parliamentary majority was composed by the parties of the "Arco costituzionale", i.e. all parties supporting the Constitution, including the Communists (who in fact took a very strong stance against the Red Brigades and other terrorist groups). However, the Communists never took part in the Government itself, which was composed by the "Pentapartito" (Christian Democrats, Socialists, Social Democrats, Liberals, Republicans).

The Eighties

In the 1980s, for the first time since 1945, two governments were led by non-Christian Democrat Premiers: a republican (Giovanni Spadolini) and a socialist (Bettino Craxi); the DC remained however the main force supporting the government.

With the end of the Years of lead (Italy) (1969-1989), the PCI gradually increased their votes under the leadership of Enrico Berlinguer. The Socialist party (PSI), led by Bettino Craxi, became more and more critical of the communists and of the Soviet Union; Craxi himself pushed in favour of US president Ronald Reagan's positioning of Pershing missiles in Italy, a move the communists hotly contested.

As the socialist party moved to more moderate positions, the ranks of the PCI increased in numbers, and the Communist party surpassed the Christian Democracy (DC) in the European elections of 1984, barely two days after Berlinguer's death, that likely drew sympathy in the population. Huge crowds attended Berlinguer's funeral. That was to be the only time the Christian Democracy was not the largest party in a nation-wide election they participated in. In 1984, the Craxi government revised the 1927 Lateran Pacts with the Vatican, which included the end of Roman Catholicism as Italy’s formal state religion.

With the Mani Pulite investigation, starting just one year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the discovery of the extent of corruption, which involved most of Italy's important political parties, apart from the PCI, led the whole power structure to falter. The scandal became known as Tangentopoli, and seemingly indestructible parties like the DC and the PSI disbanded. The Communist party, although it had not been much worried by legal investigations, changed its name to Democratic Party of the Left. Observing the fall of the Soviet Union, it took the role of one democratic party in Italy. What was to follow was then called the transition to the Second Republic.

The "Second Republic" (1992-present)

Mani pulite and the "Second Republic"

From 1992 to 1997, Italy faced significant challenges as voters (disenchanted with past political paralysis, massive government debt, extensive corruption, and organized crime's considerable influence collectively called Tangentopoli after being uncovered by Mani pulite - "Clean hands") demanded political, economic, and ethical reforms. The scandals involved all major parties, but especially those in the government coalition: between 1992 and 1994 the DC underwent a severe crisis and was dissolved, splitting up into several pieces, among whom the Italian People's Party and the Christian Democratic Center. The PSI (and the other governing minor parties) completely dissolved.

This "revolution" of the Italian political landscape, happened at a time when some institutional reforms (e.g. changes in the electoral laws intended to diminish the power of political parties) were taking place. For this reason, Italian political commentators refer to the post-1992 period as the "Second Republic", despite the absence of any major constitutional change.

In the Italian referendums of 1993, voters approved substantial changes, including moving from a proportional to an Additional Member System (with the requirement to obtain a minimum of 4% of the national vote to obtain representation) which is largely dominated by a majoritarian electoral system and the abolishment of some ministries (some of which have however been reintroduced with only partly modified names, as the Ministry of Agriculture being renamed Ministry of Agricultural Resources).

Major political parties, beset by scandal and loss of voter confidence, underwent far-reaching changes. The main changes in the political landscape were:

Berlusconi managed, in a surprise move, to ally himself both to National Alliance and the Northern League, without these being allied with each other. Forza Italia teamed up with the League in the North, where they competed against National Alliance, and with National Alliance in the rest of Italy, where the League was not present. This unusual coalition configuration was caused by the deep hate between the League, which wanted to separate Italy and held Rome in deep contempt, and the nationalist post-fascists; on one occasion, Bossi encouraged his supporters to go find National-Alliance supporters "house by house," suggesting a lynching (which however did not actually take place).

The left-wing parties formed a coalition, the Progressisti, which however did not have as clear a leader as Berlusconi was for his. Achille Occhetto, secretary of the Democratic Party of the Left, was however considered to be its main figure.

The remains of the Christian Democracy formed a third, centrist coalition, proposing reformist Mario Segni as prime minister candidate. The Christian Democracy, that had gone back to the name "Popular party," used at the beginning of the twentieth century, was led by Mino Martinazzoli.

The election saw a major turnover in the new parliament, with 452 out of 630 deputies and 213 out of 315 senators elected for the first time.

1994 elections: Berlusconi’s first government

The 1994 elections also swept media magnate Silvio Berlusconi (leader of "Pole of Freedoms" coalition, which included Forza Italia, the regionalist far-right ‘‘Lega Nord’’ party and the far-right Alleanza Nazionale), into office as Prime Minister. Berlusconi, however, was forced to step down in December 1994 when the Lega Nord withdrew support. The Berlusconi government was succeeded by a technical government headed by Prime Minister Lamberto Dini, which left office in early 1996.

1996 elections

A series of center-left coalitions dominated Italy's political landscape between 1996 and 2001. In April 1996, national elections led to the victory of a center-left coalition under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The Olive Tree included PDS, Italian Popular Party (PPI, the largest surviving piece of the former DC), and other small parties, with "external endorsement" from the communists) Prodi's government became the third-longest to stay in power before he narrowly lost a vote of confidence, by three votes, in October 1998.

In May 1999, the Parliament selected Carlo Azeglio Ciampi as the President of the Republic. Ciampi, a former Prime Minister and Minister of the Treasury, and before the governor of the Bank of Italy, was elected on the first ballot with an easy margin over the required two-thirds votes.

A new government was formed by Democrats of the Left leader and former communist Massimo D'Alema, but in April 2000, following poor performance by his coalition in regional elections, D'Alema resigned.

The succeeding center-left government, including most of the same parties, was headed by Giuliano Amato (social-democratic), who previously served as Prime Minister in 1992-93, and had back then sworn never to return to active politics.

May 2001 national elections

The May 2001 elections, where both coalitions used decoy lists to undermine the proportional-compensation part of the electoral system, ushered a refashioned center-right coalition, "Freedom House" dominated by Berlusconi's party, Forza Italia into power. It included the Alleanza Nazionale, the Lega Nord, the Christian Democratic Center and the United Christian Democrats. The Olive Tree coalition now sits in the opposition.

This emerging bipolarity represents a major break from the fragmented, multi-party political landscape of the postwar era, although it appears to have reached a plateau, since efforts via referendums to further curtail the influence of small parties were defeated in 1999 and 2000. The constant debate among the components of both coalitions is however intense, and some observers noted in this infighting some similarities with the previous system.

The largest parties in the Chamber were (proportional system):

Similar rankings generally apply in the Senate, in which Forza Italia and the Democrats of the Left remain the dominant parties.

Berlusconi participated in the US-led military coalition in Iraq, but his successor, Romano Prodi, took out the Italian troops. Italy's participation was marked by an incident with the US, concerning the death, by "friendly fire", of a SISMI agent, Nicola Calipari, during the March 2005 rescue of Giuliana Sgrena, a reporter from Il Manifesto. Furthermore, Berlusconi set up the Mitrokhin Commission, directed by senator Paolo Guzzanti (Forza Italia), to investigate on alleged KGB ties by left-wing (then-opposition) politicians. The Commission, closed in March 2006 without conclusive evidence, was very controversial, in particular after claiming that Romano Prodi, at that time Prime minister of Italy, and former President of the European Commission, had been "KGB's man in Italy." One of the Senator Guzzanti's informants, Mario Scaramella, was arrested at the end of December 2006 for defamation and arms-trade. Mr Prodi's government has set up a new commission to investigate on the Mitrokhin Commission.

April 2006 elections

Romano Prodi, with a center-left coalition, won the April 2006 general election by a very narrow margin, although Silvio Berlusconi first refused to acknowledge defeat. Prodi's coalition proved to be extremely frail, as the two-vote margin in the Senate allowed almost any party in the coalition to veto legislation and political views inside the coalition spanned from far-left Communist parties to Christian Democrats.

Less than a year after he had won the elections, on 21 February 2007, Prodi tendered his resignation to Head of State Giorgio Napolitano after the government was defeated in the Senate by 2 ballots in a vote on foreign policy. On 24 February, President Napolitano invited him to return to office and face a vote of confidence.

Major causes of friction inside the coalition were a law to establish civil unions (vetoed by Christian Democrats), Italy's continued involvment in Afghanistan (strongly opposed by left-wing parties), and finally the much publicized house-arrest of Clemente Mastella's wife (then a prominent politician at the regional level) over a corruption scandal. Mastella's party, UDEUR, held just enough seats in the Senate that his eventual decision to withdraw its support for the government meant the end of the legislature on February 6, 2008. Mastella, who also resigned from his office as Minister of Justice, cited the lack of personal support from his coalition partners' as one the reasons behind his decision[5], together with a proposed reform of the electoral system which would have made it difficult for small parties like UDEUR to gain seats in the Italian Parliament.

April 2008 elections

Silvio Berlusconi, heading a center-right coalition (Popolo della Libertà), won the April 2008 general election.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Wyatt, Mark. "Interview with Mark Wyatt (CIA), 15/2/96". http://www.gwu.edu/~nsarchiv/coldwar/interviews/episode-3/wyatt2.html. Retrieved 2007-08-31. 
  2. ↑ Riva, Valerio. "RUBLI DA MOSCA AL P.C.I. E SPIE SOVIETICHE IN ITALIA". http://www.rassegnastampa-totustuus.it/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1099. Retrieved 2007-08-31. 
  3. ↑ Quinney, K. M.. "My Enemy’s Enemy is My Friend: Italian Immigrants and the Campaign to Defeat Italian Communism". http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p114369_index.html. Retrieved 2007-08-31. 
  4. ↑ Philip Willan, The Guardian, March 26, 2001. Terrorists 'helped by CIA' to stop rise of left in Italy (English)
  5. ↑ BBC, 16 January 2008 Italian justice minister resigns(English)

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