History of the Italian Republic

After World War II and the overthrow of Mussolini's fascist regime, Italy's history was dominated by the Democrazia Cristiana (DC - Christian-Democrats) party for forty years, while the opposition was led by the Italian Communist Party (PCI); this condition endured until the Tangentopoli scandal and operation Mani pulite, which led to the dissolving of most of the Italian parties.

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

The Birth of the Republic (1946)

campaigners working on posters in Milan, Italy, 2004

Main article: Birth of the Italian Republic

In the final phases of the Second World War, 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. A new constitution was written for the new republic, taking effect on January 1, 1948, while the desperate fascist Salo Republic attempt was crushed by the Allies in April 1945. The referendum at the origin of the Italian republic was, however, the object of deep discussion, mainly because of some contested results.

Elections after World War II (1946–1948)

In 1946, the main Italian political parties were:

• Christian Democrats (DC)
• Italian Socialist Party (PSI)
• Italian Communist Party (PCI)

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.

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 FDP won the municipal elections in Pescara with a ten percent increase in their vote compared to the results of 1946. The new party expected to win the upcoming 1948 general election in a similar manner.

The 1948 general election was heavily influenced by the United States as part of their ongoing effort to fight communism. In order to influence the election, the US agencies undertook a campaign of writing ten million letters, made numerous short-wave radio broadcasts of propaganda and funded the publishing of books and articles, all of which warned the Italians of what the US felt would be the consequences of a communist victory. The CIA, of which this was the first large scale operation, also funded the centre-right political parties and was accused of publishing forged letters in order to discredit the leaders of the PCI.

This propaganda campaign proved successful as the Christian Democrats (Democrazia Cristiana) won the 1948 election with 48 percent of the vote, while the FDP only received 31 percent of the votes. The communist party would never return in government, in spite of the 1970s historic compromise attempt. For almost four decades, Italian elections were successively won by the Democrazia Cristiana (DC) centre-right party, leading to questions regarding the workings of Italian democracy.

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.

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 Economical 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 southern and central Italy, whereas the industrial North 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.

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.

The “lead years” and the failed historic compromise

The shrinking support for the Christian Democracy eventually caused the single main event in the First Republic, the entry of the Socialist party in the government in the sixties, after the reducing edge of the Christian Democracy (DC) had forced them to accept this alliance; attempts to incorporate the neo-fascist Italian Social Movement (MSI) in the Tambroni government led to riots, and were short-lived.

This period came to be known as the anni di piombo ("lead years") because of a wave of bombings, attributed to far-right, far-left and secret services actions. The Piazza Fontana bombing in the centre of Milan, on December 12, 1969, marked the beginning of this violent period. The police arrested 4000 people in left-wing circles, among whom Giuseppe Pinelli, an anarchist who was initially blamed for the bombing. This was hotly contested by left-wing circles, especially the Student Movement, very strong in those years in Milan's universities, who considered the bombing to be of fascist brand; their guess was proved to be correct, but only after many years of difficult investigations. Years later, far-right terrorist Vincenzo Vinciguerra was finally arrested for the bombing, and declared to magistrate Felice Casson that this false flag attack had been intended to force the Italian state to declare a state of emergency and become authoritarian. Vinciguerra explained how the Italian military secret services had protected him, allowing him to escape to Franquist Spain. Neo-fascist terrorists from Ordine Nuovo were then accused of the crime, and a US Navy officer suspected of being involved in it .

In December 1970, a coup dubbed the Golpe Borghese failed. It was organized and planned by several far right neo-fascist figureheads with the support of armed forces and police officers and the backing of right-aligned entrepreneurs and industrialists. The "Black Prince", Junio Valerio Borghese himself, took part in it, as well as international Italian terrorist Stefano Delle Chiaie (the latter had contacts with Pinochet's DINA and with anti-Castro terrorists such as Luis Posada Carriles).

Aldo Moro's 1978 murder

Christian democrat Aldo Moro was murdered in May 1978 by the Red Brigades, a militant leftist group then led by Mario Moretti. Before his murder, Aldo Moro, a relatively left-leaning Christian democrat, several times Prime minister, was trying to include the Communist Party as well in the government, with a deal called the historical compromise. At this point, the PCI was the largest communist party in western Europe, and remained such for the rest of its existence. This was largely due their non-extremistic and pragmatic stance, to their growing independence from Moscow and new eurocommunism doctrine. The communist party was especially strong in areas like Emilia Romagna, where they had stable government positions and matured practical experience, which may have contributed to a more pragmatic approach to politics. The Red Brigades notably met fierce resistance among the Communist Party and the trade unions, even if a few left-wing politicians used the condescending expression "comrades who are mistaken" (Italian: Compagni che sbagliano). The circumstances of Aldo Moro's murder have never been clarified, although the consequence was clear: the PCI didn't access to executive power.

The strategy of tension

Main articles: Strategy of tension and Operation Gladio

The last and largest of the bombings, known as the Bologna massacre, destroyed the city's railway station in 1980. This was found to be a fascist bombing. Many aspects of the "lead years" are still shrouded in mystery, and debate is still going in regard to some aspects. There were many who spoke, especially among the left, of the existence in those years of a strategia della tensione. According to the theory, occult and foreign forces were involved in this "strategy of tension", among whom Gladio, a NATO secret structure, the P2 masonic lodge, fascist "black terrorism" organizations such as Ordine Nuovo or Avanguardia Nazionale, Italian secret services as well as the United States. This theory reemerged in the 1990s, following juridical investigations and several parliamentary reports, even if it has never been supported by the courts. In 2000, a Parliament Commission report from the Gruppo Democratici di Sinistra l'Ulivo concluded that the strategy of tension had been supported by the United States to "stop the PCI, and to a certain degree also the PSI, from reaching executive power in the country".

The Eighties

In the 1980s, for the first time, two governments were led by a republican and a socialist (Bettino Craxi) rather than by a member of DC (which nonetheless remained the main force behind the government).

With the end of the “lead years”, 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 assisted to 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 semingly indestructible parties like the DC and the PSI disbanded. The communist party, although it hadn't been much worried by juridical investigations, changed their name to Democratic Party of the Left. Observing the fall of the Soviet Union, it took the role of the socialist party as the main social 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 referenda 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. New political forces and new alignments of power emerged in March 1994 national elections. 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

Main article: Italian general election, 2001

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 are (proportional system):

• Forza Italia (29.2%), a conservative, populistic and liberal party;
• Democrats of the Left (16.7%), a social-democratic party;
• the Daisy (14,5%), a Catholic and left-wing liberals coalition;
• the National Alliance (12,5%), a conservative, post-fascist party;
• the Whiteflower (3,3%), a centrist-Catholics parties coalition.

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

April 2006 elections

Romano Prodi won the April 2006 general election, although Silvio Berlusconi first refused to acknowledge his defeat.

See also

• Giulio Andreotti, one of Italy's most important figures after World War II
• Autonomism
• Golpe Borghese
• History of Italy as a monarchy and in the World Wars
• Politics of Italy
• Fascism
• Tangentopoli and mani pulite
• strategy of tension and Operation Gladio
• List of Presidents of the Italian Republic
• List of Prime Ministers of Italy
• Silvio Berlusconi

External links

• Text of the present Italian Constitution: English translation and original Italian (including 18 "temporary and final dispositions")