Democratic Alliance (Italy)

Democratic Alliance
Alleanza Democratica
Founded 1992
Dissolved 1996
Succeeded by Democratic Union
Ideology Social liberalism
Political position Centre-left[1]
National affiliation Alliance of Progressives (1994)
The Olive Tree (1996)
Politics of Italy
Political parties
Elections

The Democratic Alliance (Italian: Alleanza Democratica, AD) was a social-liberal[2] political party in Italy founded in 1992,[3] with the intent of becoming the container of an alliance of centre-left forces. However, the project did not succeed, and it presented itself as a minor party. The AD was mainly composed of former Republicans[4] and former Socialists.[5] Its leader and founder was Willer Bordon.[3] He resigned from the party in June 1990 following the defeat in the 1994 general election.[6]

AD was aimed at reforming the centre-left, uniting in a single bloc both the centrists of the Segni Pact and the post-communist Democratic Party of the Left, and transforming it in an "Italian Democratic Party", modelled on the Democratic Party of the United States. The party took very liberal stances on the economy, proposed a shake-up of the Italian political system and was very critical to the perceived statism of the Italian left.

After an unremarkable result (1.2%) at the 1994 general election, due to the uneasy alliance with the left-wing Alliance of Progressives instead of with Silvio Berlusconi, who had embraced most of AD's policies, its members entered the left-wing and later centre-left coalitions, with the notable exceptions of Ferdinando Adornato, currently member of Union of the Centre, and Giulio Tremonti, previously a member of Berlusconi's The People of Freedom. However, Tremonti switched to the Segni Pact in 1994 and Adornato left politics in 1996, before joining Forza Italia.

In 1995 for regional elections the AD was part of the Pact of Democrats electoral alliance with the Segni Pact and Italian Socialists.[7]

In 1996 the party was an early minor member of The Olive Tree coalition,[8] and evolved into the Democratic Union with the entry of other Republicans such as Antonio Maccanico, and some Socialists including Giorgio Benvenuto.

References

  1. ↑ Ferdinand Muller-Rommel; Thomas Poguntke (5 November 2013). Green Parties in National Governments. Routledge. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-135-28826-6.
  2. ↑ Ari-Veikko Anttiroiko; Matti Mälkiä (2007). Encyclopedia of Digital Government. Idea Group Inc (IGI). p. 396. ISBN 978-1-59140-790-4.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Italian Greens Lose Environment Ministry". Environment News Service (Rome). 2 May 2000. Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  4. ↑ Piero Ignazi; Colette Ysmal (1 January 1998). The Organization of Political Parties in Southern Europe. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 102. ISBN 978-0-275-95612-7.
  5. ↑ Nikiforos P. Diamandouros; Richard Gunther (9 May 2001). Parties, Politics, and Democracy in the New Southern Europe. JHU Press. p. 424. ISBN 978-0-8018-6518-3.
  6. ↑ Richard L. Wentworth (15 June 1994). "Italy's Left Crumbles After European Voting". The Christian Science Monitor (Rome). Retrieved 30 November 2013.
  7. ↑ André Krouwel (1 December 2012). Party Transformations in European Democracies. SUNY Press. p. 323. ISBN 978-1-4384-4481-9.
  8. ↑ Andrea Mammone; Giuseppe A. Veltri (25 February 2010). Italy Today: The Sick Man of Europe. Routledge. p. 71. ISBN 978-1-135-16493-5.