Politics of Italy

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Politics of Italy

Sistema politico italiano
Emblem of Italy.svg
Polity typeUnitary parliamentary republic
ConstitutionConstitution of Italy
Legislative branch
NameParliament
TypeBicameral
Meeting placePalazzo Madama
Palazzo Montecitorio
Upper house
NameSenate
Presiding officerMaria Elisabetta Casellati, President of the Senate
Lower house
NameChamber of Deputies
Presiding officerRoberto Fico, President of the Chamber of Deputies
Executive branch
Head of State
TitlePresident
CurrentlySergio Mattarella
AppointerParliament
Head of Government
TitlePrime Minister
CurrentlyMario Draghi
AppointerPresident
Cabinet
NameCouncil of Ministers
Current cabinetDraghi Cabinet
LeaderPrime Minister
AppointerPresident
HeadquartersPalazzo Chigi
Ministries21
Judicial branch
NameJudiciary
Supreme Court of Cassation
Chief judge
Constitutional Court
Chief judgeGiancarlo Coraggio

The politics of Italy are conducted through a parliamentary republic with a multi-party system. Italy has been a democratic republic since 2 June 1946, when the monarchy was abolished by popular referendum and a constituent assembly was elected to draft a constitution, which was promulgated on 1 January 1948.

Executive power is exercised by the Council of Ministers, which is led by the Prime Minister, officially referred to as "President of the Council" (Presidente del Consiglio). Legislative power is vested primarily in the two houses of Parliament and secondarily in the Council of Ministers, which can introduce bills and holds the majority in both houses. The judiciary is independent of the executive and the legislative branches. It is headed by the High Council of the Judiciary, a body presided over by the President, who is the head of state, though this position is separate from all branches. The current president is Sergio Mattarella, and the current prime minister is Mario Draghi.

The Economist Intelligence Unit rated Italy as a "flawed democracy" in 2019.[1] A high degree of fragmentation and instability, leading to often short-lived coalition governments, is characteristic of Italian politics.[2][3] Since the end of World War II, Italy has had 66 governments, at an average of one every 1.14 years.[4]

Government[]

The political system of Italy

Article 1 of the Italian Constitution states: Italy is a democratic Republic, founded on labour. Sovereignty belongs to the people and is exercised by the people in the forms and within the limits of the Constitution.[5]

By stating that Italy is a democratic republic, the article solemnly declares the results of the constitutional referendum which took place on 2 June 1946. The State is not a hereditary property of the ruling monarch, but it is instead a Res Publica, belonging to everyone.

The people who are called to temporarily administer the republic are not owners, but servants; and the governed are not subjects, but citizens. And the sovereignty, that is the power to make choices that involve the entire community, belongs to the people, in accordance with the concept of a democracy, from the Greek demos (people) and kratìa (power). However, this power is not to be exercised arbitrarily, but in the forms and within the limits established by the rule of law.

Head of state[]

Sergio Mattarella, President of Italy since 3 February 2015

As the head of state, the president of the Republic represents the unity of the nation and has many of the duties previously given to the King of Italy. The president serves as a point of connection between the three branches as he is elected by the lawmakers, appoints the executive and is the president of the judiciary. The president is also commander-in-chief in the time of war.

The president of the Republic is elected for seven years by Parliament in joint session.

Legislative branch[]

Roberto Fico, President of the Chamber of Deputies since 24 March 2018
Maria Elisabetta Alberti Casellati, President of the Senate since 24 March 2018

With article 48 of the Constitution, which guarantees the right to vote, the people exercise their power through their elected representatives in the Parliament.[5] The Parliament has a bicameral system, and consists of the Chamber of deputies and the Senate, elected every five years.

Executive branch[]

Mario Draghi, Prime Minister since 13 February 2021

The Constitution establishes the Government of Italy as composed of the president of the council (prime minister) and ministers. The President of Italy appoints the prime minister and, on his proposal, the ministers that form its cabinet.[5]

Judicial branch[]

The Constitution states that justice is administered in the name of the people and that judges are subject only to the law.[5] So the judiciary is a branch that is completely autonomous and independent of all other branches of power, even though the Minister of Justice is responsible for the organization and functioning of those services involved with justice and has the power to originate disciplinary actions against judges, which are then administered by the High Council of the Judiciary, presided over by the President.[5]

The Italian judicial system is based on Roman law, the Napoleonic code and later statutes. It is based on a mix of the adversarial and inquisitorial civil law systems, although the adversarial system was adopted in the Appeal Courts in 1988. Appeals are treated almost as new trials, and three degrees of trial are present. The third is a legitimating trial.[citation needed][6]

In November 2014, Italy accepted the compulsory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice.[7]

Political parties and elections[]

All Italian citizens older than 18 can vote, but to vote for the Senate the voter must be 25 or older.

Chamber of Deputies[]

Composition of the Chamber of Deputies showing that after the 4 March 2018 election no coalition has a clear majority to form a government, resulting in a hung parliament
Coalition Party Seats %
Centre-right coalition League (Lega) 124 19.6
Forza Italia (FI) 106 16.8
Brothers of Italy (FdI) 31 4.9
Us with Italy (NcI) 4 0.6
Total seats 265 42.1
Five Star Movement (M5S) 227 36.1
Centre-left coalition Democratic Party (PD) 112 17.8
More Europe (+Eu) 3 0.5
Together (IEI) 1 0.1
Popular Civic List (CP) 2 0.3
SVPPATT 4 0.6
Total seats 122 19.4
Free and Equal (LeU) 14 2.2
Associative Movement Italians Abroad (MAIE) 1 0.1
South American Union Italian Emigrants (USEI) 1 0.1
Total 630 100

Senate of the Republic[]

Composition of the Senate showing that after the 4 March 2018 election no coalition has a clear majority to form a government, resulting in a hung parliament
Coalition Party Seats %
Centre-right coalition League (Lega) 58 18.4
Forza Italia (FI) 58 18.4
Brothers of Italy (FdI) 16 5.1
Us with Italy (NcI) 5 1.6
Total seats 137 43.5
Five Star Movement (M5S) 112 35.5
Centre-left coalition Democratic Party (PD) 53 16.8
More Europe (+Eu) 1 0.3
Together (IEI) 1 0.3
Popular Civic List (CP) 1 0.3
SVPPATT 3 1.0
Aosta Valley (VdA) 1 0.3
Total seats 60 19.1
Free and Equal (LeU) 4 1.3
Associative Movement Italians Abroad (MAIE) 1 0.3
South American Union Italian Emigrants (USEI) 1 0.3
Total 315 100

Political parties[]

A poster for the European Parliament election 2004 in Italy showing party lists

Italy's dramatic self-renewal transformed the political landscape between 1992 and 1997. Scandal investigations touched thousands of politicians, administrators and businessmen; the shift from a proportional to an Additional Member System (with the requirement to obtain a minimum of 4% of the national vote to obtain representation) also altered the political landscape. Party changes were sweeping. The Christian Democratic party dissolved; the Italian People's Party and the Christian Democratic Center emerged. Other major parties, such as the Socialists, saw support plummet. A new liberal movement, Forza Italia, gained wide support among moderate voters. The National Alliance broke from the (alleged neo-fascist) Italian Social Movement (MSI). A trend toward two large coalitions (one on the center-left and the other on the center-right) emerged from the April 1995 regional elections. For the 1996 national elections, the center-left parties created the Olive Tree coalition while the center-right united again under the House of Freedoms. These coalitions continued into the 2001 and 2007 national elections.[8]

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, 2000 and 2009.[9]

Regional governments[]

Five regions (Aosta Valley, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Sardinia, Sicily and Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol) have special charters granting them varying degrees of autonomy. The raisons d'être of these charters is in most cases the presence of significant linguistic and cultural minorities,[citation needed] but in the case of Sicily it was to calm down separatist movements.[citation needed] The other 15 regions were in practice established in 1970, even if their ideation had been a much earlier idea.

Region Name Portrait Since Term Party Coalition Election
Flag of Valle d'Aosta.svg
Aosta Valley
Erik Lavévaz
(1980–)
No image.svg 21 October 2020 2020–2025 UV Centre-left 2020
Flag of Piedmont.svg
Piedmont
Alberto Cirio
(1972–)
Alberto Cirio 2019.jpg 6 June 2019 2019–2024 FI Centre-right 2019
Flag of Lombardy.svg
Lombardy
Attilio Fontana
(1962–)
Attilio Fontana 2019.jpg 26 March 2018 2018–2023 LegaLL Centre-right 2018
Flag of Trentino-South Tyrol.svg
Arno Kompatscher
(1971–)
Kompatscher 2015.jpg 15 June 2016 2018–2021
(rotational presidency)
SVP Centre-right 2018
Flag of Veneto.svg
Veneto
Luca Zaia
(1968–)
Luca Zaia in 2019.jpg 30 March 2010 2020–2025 LegaLV Centre-right 2020
Flag of Friuli-Venezia Giulia.svg
Friuli-Venezia Giulia
Massimiliano Fedriga
(1980–)
Massimiliano Fedriga daticamera.jpg 30 April 2018 2018–2023 LegaLNFVG Centre-right 2018
Flag of Emilia-Romagna (de facto).svg
Emilia-Romagna
Stefano Bonaccini
(1967–)
Stefano Bonaccini 2019 (cropped).jpg 24 November 2014 2020–2025 PD Centre-left 2020
Flag of Liguria.svg
Liguria
Giovanni Toti
(1968–)
Giovanni Toti in 2018.jpg 1 June 2015 2020–2025 C! Centre-right 2020
Flag of Tuscany.svg
Tuscany
Eugenio Giani
(1959–)
Eugenio Giani (cropped).jpg 8 October 2020 2020–2025 PD Centre-left 2020
Flag of Marche.svg
Marche
Francesco Acquaroli
(1974–)
Francesco Acquaroli daticamera 2018.jpg 30 September 2020 2020–2025 FdI Centre-right 2020
Flag of Umbria.svg
Umbria
Donatella Tesei
(1958–)
Donatella Tesei datisenato 2018.jpg 28 October 2019 2019–2024 LegaLNU Centre-right 2019
Flag of Lazio.svg
Lazio
Nicola Zingaretti
(1965–)
Nicola Zingaretti 2012 crop.jpg 27 February 2013 2018–2023 PD Centre-left 2018
Flag of Abruzzo.svg
Abruzzo
Marco Marsilio
(1968–)
Marco Marsilio datisenato 2018 (cropped).jpg 11 February 2019 2019–2024 FdI Centre-right 2019
Flag of Molise.svg
Molise
Donato Toma
(1957–)
Donato Toma (cropped).jpg 23 April 2018 2018–2023 FI Centre-right 2018
Flag of Campania.svg
Campania
Vincenzo De Luca
(1949–)
Vincenzo De Luca crop.jpg 1 June 2015 2020–2025 PD Centre-left 2020
Flag of Apulia.svg
Apulia
Michele Emiliano
(1959–)
Michele Emiliano crop.jpg 1 June 2015 2020–2025 PD Centre-left 2020
Flag of Basilicata.svg
Basilicata
Vito Bardi
(1951–)
Generale Vito Bardi.jpg 25 March 2019 2019–2024 FI Centre-right 2019
Flag of Calabria.svg
Calabria
Antonino Spirlì
(1961–)
15 October 2020[a] 2020–2025 Lega Centre-right 2020
Sicilian Flag.svg
Sicily
Nello Musumeci
(1955–)
Nello Musumeci stampa estera.jpg 18 November 2017 2017–2022 DB Centre-right 2017
Flag of Sardinia, Italy.svg
Sardinia
Christian Solinas
(1976–)
Christian Solinas datisenato 2018 (cropped).jpg 20 March 2019 2019–2024 PSd'Az Centre-right 2019
  1. ^ Acting President after the death of Jole Santelli.


History of the post-war political landscape[]

Campaigners working on posters in Milan, 2004

First Republic: 1946–1994[]

There have been frequent government turnovers since 1945, indeed there have been 66 governments in this time.[10] The dominance of the Christian Democratic party during much of the postwar period lent continuity and comparative stability to Italy's political situation, mainly dominated by the attempt of keeping the Italian Communist Party (PCI) out of power in order to maintain Cold War equilibrium in the region (see May 1947 crisis).[11]

The communists were in the government only in the national unity governments before 1948, in which their party's secretary Palmiro Togliatti was minister of Justice. After the first democratic elections with universal suffrage in 1948 in which the Christian Democracy and their allies won against the popular front of the Italian Communist and Socialists parties, the Communist Party never returned in the government.

The system had been nicknamed the "imperfect bipolarism", referring to more proper bipolarism in other western countries (the United States, Germany, the United Kingdom, France and the like) where right-wing and left-wing parties alternated in government.

Entrance of the Socialists to the government[]

The main event in the First Republic in the 1960s was the inclusion of the Socialist party in the government after the reducing edge of the Christian Democracy (DC) had forced them to accept this alliance; attempts to incorporate the Italian Social Movement (MSI), a right party, in the Tambroni government led to riots and were short-lived.

Aldo Moro, a relatively left-leaning Christian Democrat, inspired this alliance. He would later try to include the Communist Party as well with a deal called the "historic compromise". However, this attempt at compromise was stopped by the kidnapping and murder of Moro in 1978 by the Red Brigades, an extremist left-wing terrorist organization.

The Communist Party was at this point the largest communist party in Western Europe and remained such for the rest of its existence. Their ability to attract members was largely due to their pragmatic stance, especially their rejection of extremism and to their growing independence from Moscow (see Eurocommunism). The Italian communist party was especially strong in areas like Emilia-Romagna and Tuscany, where communists had been elected to stable government positions. This practical political experience may have contributed to their taking a more pragmatic approach to politics.[12]

The Years of Lead[]

On 12 December 1969, a roughly decade-long period of extremist left- and right-wing political terrorism, known as The Years of Lead (as in the metal of bullets, Italian: anni di piombo), began with the Piazza Fontana bombing in the center of Milan. Neofascist Vincenzo Vinciguerra later declared the bombing to be an attempt to push the Italian state to declare a state of emergency in order to lead to a more authoritative state. A bomb left in a bank killed about twenty and was initially blamed on anarchist Giuseppe Pinelli. This accusation was hotly contested by left-wing circles, especially the Maoist Student Movement, which had support in those years from some students of Milan's universities and who considered the bombing to have all the marks of a fascist operation. Their guess proved correct, but only after many years of difficult investigations.[13]

The strategy of tension attempted to blame the left for bombings carried out by right-wing terrorists. Fascist "black terrorists", such as Ordine Nuovo and the Avanguardia Nazionale, were in the 1980s and 1990s found to be responsible for several terrorist attacks. On the other extreme of the political spectrum, the leftist Red Brigades carried out assassinations against specific persons, but were not responsible for any blind bombings. The Red Brigades killed socialist journalist Walter Tobagi and in their most famous operation kidnapped and assassinated Aldo Moro, president of the Christian Democracy, who was trying to involve the Communist Party in the government through the compromesso storico ("historic compromise"), to which the radical left as well as Washington were opposed.[14]

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 neofascist bombing, in which Propaganda Due was involved. On 24 October 1990, Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti (DC) revealed to the Parliament the existence of Gladio, NATO's secret "stay-behind" networks which stocked weapons in order to facilitate an armed resistance in case of a communist coup. In 2000, a Parliament Commission report from the Olive Tree (centre-left) coalition concluded that the strategy of tension followed by Gladio had been supported by the United States to "stop the PCI and, to a certain degree, the PSI [Italian Socialist Party] from reaching executive power in the country".[15]

1980s[]

With the end of the lead years, the Communist Party gradually increased their votes under the leadership of Enrico Berlinguer. The Italian Socialist Party, led by Bettino Craxi, became more and more critical of the communists and of the Soviet Union; Craxi himself pushed in favor of Ronald Reagan's positioning of Pershing II missiles in Italy, a move many communists strongly disapproved of.

As the Socialist Party moved to more moderate positions, it attracted many reformists, some of whom were irritated by the failure of the communists to modernize. Increasingly, many on the left began to see the communists as old and out of fashion while Craxi and the socialists seemed to represent a new liberal socialism. The Communist Party surpassed the Christian Democrats only in the European elections of 1984, held barely two days after Berlinguer's death, a passing that likely drew sympathy from many voters. The election of 1984 was to be the only time the Christian Democrats did not emerge as the largest party in a nationwide election in which they participated.

In 1987, one year after the Chernobyl disaster following a referendum in that year, a nuclear phase-out was commenced. Italy's four nuclear power plants were closed down, the last in 1990. A moratorium on the construction of new plants, originally in effect from 1987 until 1993, has since been extended indefinitely.[16]

In these years, corruption began to be more extensive, a development that would be exposed in the early 1990s and nicknamed Tangentopoli. With the mani pulite investigation, starting just one year after the collapse of the Soviet Union, the whole power structure faltered and seemingly indestructible parties, such as the Christian Democrats and the Socialist Party, disbanded whereas the Communist Party changed its name to the Democratic Party of the Left and 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.

Second Republic: 1994–present[]

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, demanded political, economic and ethical reforms.

In the Italian referendums of 1993, voters approved substantial changes, including moving from a proportional to an Additional Member System, which is largely dominated by a majoritarian electoral system and the abolition of some ministries, some of which have been reintroduced with only partly modified names, such as the Ministry of Agriculture reincarnated as the 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 the March 1994 national elections. This 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.

The 1994 elections also swept media magnate Silvio Berlusconi (leader of Pole of Freedoms coalition) into office as prime minister. However, Berlusconi 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.

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, The Olive Tree, under the leadership of Romano Prodi. 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 entering the government also the governor of the Bank of Italy, was elected on the first ballot by a comfortable margin over the required two-thirds of the votes.

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

The succeeding center-left government, including most of the same parties, was headed by Giuliano Amato, a social democrat, who had previously served as prime minister in 1992–1993 and had at the time sworn never to return to active politics.

National elections held on 13 May 2001 returned Berlusconi to power at the head of the five-party center-right House of Freedoms coalition, comprising the Prime Minister's own party, Forza Italia, the National Alliance, the North League, the Christian Democratic Center and the United Christian Democrats.

Between 17 May 2006 and 21 February 2007, Romano Prodi served as prime minister of Italy following the narrow victory of his The Union coalition over the House of Freedoms led by Silvio Berlusconi in the April 2006 Italian elections. Following a government crisis, Prodi submitted his resignation on 21 February 2007. Three days later, he was asked by President Giorgio Napolitano to stay on as prime minister and he agreed to do so. On 28 February 2007, Prodi narrowly survived a senate no confidence vote.[17]

On 24 January 2008, the Prodi II Cabinet went through a new crisis because Minister of Justice Clemente Mastella retracted his support to the Cabinet. Consequently, the Prodi Cabinet lost the vote of confidence and the President Giorgio Napolitano called a new general election.

The election set against two new parties, the Democratic Party (founded in October 2007 by the union of the Democrats of the Left and Democracy is Freedom – The Daisy) led by Walter Veltroni: and The People of Freedom (federation of Forza Italia, National Alliance and other parties) led by Silvio Berlusconi. The Democratic Party was in alliance with Italy of Values while The People of Freedom forged an alliance with Lega Nord and the Movement for Autonomy. The coalition led by Berlusconi won the election and the leader of the centre-right created the Berlusconi IV Cabinet.

The Monti government had the highest average age in the western world (64 years), with its youngest members being 57. The previous Italian Prime Minister Mario Monti is 70, his predecessor Silvio Berlusconi was 75 at the time of resignation (2011), the previous head of the government Romano Prodi was 70 when he stepped down (2008), the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano is 88 and his predecessor Carlo Azeglio Ciampi was 86. In 2013, the youngest among the candidates for prime minister (Pier Luigi Bersani) is 62, the others being 70 and 78. The current average age of Italian university professors is 63, of bank directors and CEOs 67, of members of parliament 56 and of labor union representatives 59.[18][19][20][21]

The new Italian government headed by Enrico Letta took two months to form and made international news when Luigi Preiti shot at policemen near the building where they were swearing in the new government on Sunday 28 April 2013.

Former Prime Minister Matteo Renzi became the youngest prime minister at 39 years and his government had the youngest average age in Europe.

Grand coalition governments[]

At different times since his entering the Italian Parliament, Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the centre-right, had repeatedly vowed to stop the "communists", while leftist parties had insisted that they would oust Berlusconi. Thus, despite the fact that the executive branch bears responsibility toward the Parliament, the governments led by Mario Monti (since 2011) and by Enrico Letta (since 2013) were called "unelected governments"[22][23][24] because they won a vote of confidence by a Parliament coalition formed by centre-right and left-right parties that had in turn obtained parliamentary seats by taking part in the elections as competitors, rather than allies. While formally complying with law and procedures, the creation of these governments did not comply with the decision made by people through the election.

Meanwhile, in 2013, a ruling by the Constitutional Court of Italy established that the Italian electoral system employed to elect the Parliament breached a number of Constitutional requirements.[25] Notably, the Court observed the following four facts:[26] 1) "such a legislation deprives the elector of any margin of choice of its representatives"; 2) "all of the elected parliamentarians, with no exception, lack the support of a personal designation by the citizens"; 3) the electoral law has regulations which "exclude any ability on the part of the elector to have an influence on the election of his/her representatives"; 4) and contains conditions such that "they alter the representative relationship between electors and elected people...they coerce the electors' freedom of choice in the election of their representatives to the Parliament...and consequently they are at odds with the democratic principle, by affecting the very freedom of vote provided for by art. 48 of the Constitution". This implies that, despite being called - and acting as – a legitimate "parliament",[27] the legislative assembly of Italy was chosen with a vote system by which the right of vote was not exercised according to the Italian fundamental chart of citizen's rights and duties. The issue was a major one, to the extent that the Constitutional Court itself ruled that the Italian Parliament should remain in charge only to reform the electoral system and then should be dissolved.[26]

The new government led by Matteo Renzi proposed a new electoral law. The so-called Italicum was approved in 2015 and came into force on 1 July 2016.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Democracy Index 2019". Economist Intelligence Unit. Retrieved 23 November 2020.
  2. ^ Why is it so hard to form a government in Italy?: They designed it that way, The Economist (April 24, 2013).
  3. ^ Explaining Italy's Fragmented Politics, Stratfor (April 18, 2013).
  4. ^ Eric J. Lyman, Is Italy's government on a collision course with the EU?, The Guardian (May 24, 2018).
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c d e "The Italian Constitution". The official website of the Presidency of the Italian Republic.
  6. ^ Italy Country: Strategic Information and Developments. 3 March 2012. ISBN 978-1438774664.
  7. ^ Declarations recognizing the jurisdiction of the Court as compulsory: Italy Archived 16 June 2018 at the Wayback Machine, International Court of Justice.
  8. ^ Geoffrey Pridham, Political Parties and Coalitional Behaviour in Italy (2013),
  9. ^ Günther Pallaver et al. eds. Populism, Populists, and the Crisis of Political Parties: A Comparison of Italy, Austria, and Germany 1990-2015 (2018) excerpt
  10. ^ "Pasta and fries".The Economist (24 February – 2 March 2007 Issue) Volume 382, Number 8517
  11. ^ Frederic Spotts and Theodor Wieser, eds. Italy: A Difficult Democracy: A Survey of Italian Politics . (1986)
  12. ^ Joan Barth Urban, Moscow and the Italian Communist Party: From Togliatti to Berlinguer (IB Tauris, 1986).
  13. ^ David Moss, The Politics of Left-Wing Violence in Italy, 1969-85 (1989)
  14. ^ Robert C. Meade Jr.. Red Brigades: The Story of Italian Terrorism (1989)
  15. ^ Leonard Weinberg, "Italian neo‐fascist terrorism: A comparative perspective." Terrorism and Political Violence 7.1 (1995): 221-238.
  16. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 6 September 2005. Retrieved 17 August 2005.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  17. ^ "Italian Prime Minister survives senate vote". BBC News. 28 February 2007. Retrieved 9 August 2010.
  18. ^ "Ung ilska mot Italiens politiska dinosaurier - SvD". SvD.se.
  19. ^ "Il Parlamento italiano? Maschio e di mezza età". l'Espresso. 7 September 2011.
  20. ^ "Abbiamo i potenti più vecchi d'EuropaPolitici e manager sfiorano i 60 anni". LaStampa.it.
  21. ^ "senato.it - Distribuzione dei Senatori per fasce di età e per sesso". www.senato.it.
  22. ^ "Monti names unelected government". EU observer.
  23. ^ "A Berlusconi Reminder as Italy Faces Another Unelected Premier". NY Times.
  24. ^ "Italy has 4th Government in 3 Years; the Last 3 Unelected". Mish's Global Economic Trend Analsysis.
  25. ^ "Italy's top court rules electoral law breaches constitution". Reuters.
  26. ^ Jump up to: a b "Giudizio di leggitimità costituzionale in via incidentale". Corte Costituzionale della Repubblica Italiana.
  27. ^ "Italy Constitutional Court: parliament legitimate, electoral law unconstitutional". Jurist.

Further reading[]

Discusses political historians such as Silvio Lanaro, Aurelio Lepre, and Nicola Tranfaglia, and studies of Fascism, the Italian Communist party, the role of the Christian Democrats in Italian society, and the development of the Italian parliamentary Republic. excerpt
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