People
Population:  58 mln
Annual Growth Rate:  0.07% (was -.08% in 2000)
Fertility:  1.28 births per woman
Rural/Urban:  33/67
Languages:  Italian, French, German
Ethic Minorities:  Germans, French, Slovene, Albanian
Religion: 98% RC; 2% others
Life Expectancy:  77 (male); 83 (female)
Literacy:  98.6%
Compulsory Ed: 6-13 (free)

Economy
Per capita income/GDP:  $27,700 (2004 - ppp)
GDP growth: 1.3% (2004)

GDP generated by sector:
agriculture: 2.3%
industry: 28.8%
services: 68.9% (2004 est.)

Employment by sector:
agriculture 5%, industry 32%, services 63% (2001)

Unemployment: 8.6
Products/industries: tourism, machinery, motor vehicles, iron, steel, chemicals, food processing, textiles, ceramics, footwear, fruits, vegetables, meat, dairy products, fish

Political History

Late Unifier
Regionalism
North-South Differences
Differences in Political Culture, Partisanship
The Church

National Movement - mid-late 19th C

Garibaldi

Nationalism WWI

Fascism WWII

Post-War History.
1946 Monarchy vs. Constitution
First truly universal suffrage. Abolished monarchy and elected, by proportional representation, a Constituent Assembly – temporary Parliament and had to write a Republican constitution within 18 months.

First Elections 1947
won by Christian Democrat (DC) prime minister, Alcide De Gasperi
ejected the Communists and the Pro-PCI (Italian Communist Party) Socialists from the government.
PSI (Italian Socialist Party) was split over the relation to the PCI.
DC count on the PSDI (Italian Social Democratic Party) as a coalition partner.

1948
DC wins the elections – absolute majority in the seats and 48.5% of the vote.
DC was seen as the surest defense against communism (cold war).
After il Duce, Italians thought that the legislative should be the supreme branch of government – PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION.

PROPORTIONAL REPRESENTATION
Until 1994 (with 1.4% of the vote needed for a seat)

1947 – 1992
Over 50 governments!!
constant turnover, struggles for power (the latter esp. in the 80s).

The CATHOLIC CHURCH in Italian Politics
Lateran Pacts included in Article 7 of the Constitution.
    Pope Pius XII declared upholding a Marxist doctrine a sin.
    By 1949 active Communists and Socialist were excommunicated.
    Polarized country, Right + the Church.

Pius XII went beyond his powers, was involved in politics – this remained like this until the 1980s (Polish Pope and Socialist Prime Minister, revised the Concordat).

Church Connections to Political Parties/Movements
    Christian Democrats (DC) Dominated Post-War Republic
    Catholic Action - a transmission belt organization for the church, to DC
    Catholics founded the CISL (Italian Confederation of Free Trade Unions),
    closely tied to the DC

1974 referendum to repeal Italy’s new divorce law: failed by a 40-to-60% margin
Church and DC stunned

The Right in Italian Politics
Through most of post-war period
Christian Democrats (DC)
Major supporters in post-war elections:
southern notables, the Church, private industry, U.S. largesse.

Governed with support of several small nonreligious parties of the Center Left (Social Democrats and Republicans) or Right (Liberals).

Patronage
DC used public structures to build a patronage structure – solidified party’s organization and source of funding and favors to party faithful.

Wasteful use of public resources was overlooked (economic growth) but contributed to Italy’s huge public sector deficit and set the stage for corruption.

The Left in Italian Politics

Competition between the Socialists (PSI) and the Communists (PCI)

PSI grew increasingly distant from the PCI in the 1950s.
This alliance cost them votes + credibility
Booming economy strengthened the unions’ hand.
1960s PSI starts working with DC (rather than the PCI)

Communist support grew steady through the 1970s.
1976: PCI got 34.4% of the vote.
 DC forced to make some concessions in order to continue governing.

PCI’s secretary Enrico Berlinguer was thinking of a historic compromise between the PCI and the DC, but by the 1970s the PCI was back in the opposition and losing votes.

1983: DC shattered by scandals. BETTINO CRAXI, PSI leader became Prime Minister (though the PSI only had 11%)

Longest-lived government of the entire postwar period.
    Renegotiation of the Lateran Pacts (1984).
    Aggressive attacks on PCI and unions – undermine socialist credibility as party of the Left.
    DC-PSI partnership degenerated (corrupt struggle over political spoils).

Communist leadership of the workers’ movement
    history of opposition to Fascism
    Red Belt strength

PCI contributed decisively to stabilization of Italian democracy
    Mid-1970s, workers' movements gain in strength- UIL (Italian Labor Union).

    Communists got 1/3 of the vote,
    but were still denied a full share of political power
    right refused to work in coalition with them
    or allow them into Government posts

1980s
union and PCI influence again reduced due to:
End of Cold War,
massive scandals
total reconstructing of party system (end of DC)

1994-The Present: Toward a Second Republic?
1980s - 1994
• loss of poweer by the DC and PSI:
• Collapse of Communism – the PCI (largest communist party in the Western world) dissolved itself into the PDS – the DC lost its anticommunist alibi to govern – encouraged prosecutors to fight corruption with more purpose.
• Governing the economy – DC-PSI rivalry led to increased public spending, Europe and the rest of the world’s did the opposite – a change was necessary.
• Erosion of old collective identities.
• Corruption scandals the last straw
 

Crises of Italian System in 1990s
(1): the LEGA NORD
Various leagues sprung up in the North:
separatists, ethnically based and united by an anti-party and anti-Rome rhetoric. Appealed to the “little people”. Responded to sense of regional identity and demands for more autonomy for the North.

By 1992: united into the Northern League (LEGA NORD) – largest party in Lombardy and Veneto (1/4 of the vote).

(2): Critical Referendum Campaigns
Late 1980s: abrogative referendum (can abolish a law) started being widely used to send a message to the lawmakers.
 
Early 1990s: reformers used referenda 2 times to change the electoral system.
1991 – proportional representation system changed (96% voted to change it)
1993 – referendum altered system for choosing senators into a first-past-the-post system (83%)

This system was used for 75% of the seats, a less permissive variant of PR was used for the remaining quarter.
 
New French-style electoral law for municipal elections also instituted. Mayors directly elected with a second, runoff ballot.

1993 and 1994 elections held under new system: devastating for DC and PSI.

(3): Kickback City and Clean Hands
1992 elections: parties in power barely won, but evidence of corruption unfolded. Task of forming a government given to Giuliano Amato, Socialist with clean reputation.
After 6 months 5 ministers had resigned under legal cloud.
Within 2 years 1/5 of members of Parliament were in some form of legal trouble (“Operation Clean Hands”).