My Impressions Of Politics In Italy Essay

, Research Paper

My Impressions of Politics in Italy

Before examining the government of a country, there first has to be an understanding of the history and culture of the land. The Italian nation is relatively new term, still not quite understood by even those living in Italy. Historically, jutting out into the Mediterranean, Italy has been a very important checkpoint for supplies being trafficked across this Sea. Because of it’s geographical importance it has seen and been forced to abide by many types of governments. Italy understands that the more powerful organization will always have the final say in all governmental decisions. It is because of this cultural acceptance that Italian government has become the system that it is today.

Some have described Italy as, ” a nation without a government,” this is quite a shocking statement describing a country with a political system very similar to that of Great Britain. When only taking a glance Italy’s government one would see a unified country ruled by a parliamentary based democracy, a style of government that shares some of the same values as Americans. But when a closer look is needed, this vision of Italy becomes distorted and blurred. Slowly an underlining system begins emerge, a dual system operating with parliament in order to dictating the actions and policies of government. At yet a closer examination of politics in Italy reveals the parliament acts only as the figureheads, voting on policies the way that they instructed. The level o f corruption in Italy’s elections questions even the loosest definitions of democracy. After realizing these facts Italy begins to resemble this “nation without a government,” a nation where a government is in place but someone else makes the rules. What would cause a nation to resort to this system when an operative government seams just within reach. To understand why Italy has such a system in place, a much closer look at the formal government needs to take place.

Italy operates under a working parliamentary government system, granted it is not a very effective system, but it does exist. The reasons for this weakness are very simple and easy to see when thought of in a practical sense. Italy’s elections have upwards of twenty parties running, each representing a portion of the population. With numerous parties with separate values and platforms all running in the same election, a plurality is near mathematically impossible to achieve. Therefor these twenty separate parties are forced to compromise their platforms to form with similar parties, forming coalitions. The simple fact that these coalitions have even a slight difference on what needs to be accomplished causes the potential for disagreements within the coalition. These disagreements slow the decision making process down considerably. At some point these disagreements could reach a level where a compromise in not an option and the coalition disbands. This system of coalition formed government’s poses a problem in that if the politics at hand always involve the foundations of the government itself, not much will be accomplished in the nation. The people of Italy were frustrated with how the government was operating.

Italy’s history has not helped form a singular country and therefor makes it difficult for Italians to agree on an issue that would effect the country as a whole. Up until the unification of Italy in 1861, Italy had not been a complete nation ruled under the same government since the Roman Empire. After the fall of the empire, Italy was divided by Spanish and German mercenaries under the political control of the Pope. Northern Italy would often be forced to defend its boarders during a continuous war known as the Gothic Wars. These invaders were never able to reach middle or southern Italy, therefor the Gothic wars only effected the cultures of those living in northern Italy. Throughout this period of multiple influence, Italy was in a form of Roman city-states each governing in the manor that suit them the best. It was for these reasons that shortly after unification, philosopher Massimo d’ Azeglio declared “We have made Italy. Now we must make Italians.”

Italians, in the naturalistic sense of the word were hard to come by. The fact that the people of Italy had a different past for each geographic location. Each location separated from each other, influenced by different groups of rulers, imposing different types of governments. Therefore, a unified Italian cultural did not exist. It is no wonder that when Italians from the north were placed in a government with representatives from the south, disagreements took place in the form of cultural variances. The north, influenced by the technological advancements of invaders developed with the Industrial Revolution. The overall economy of Italy was nothing impressive, however when the just the economy of the north was compared to the rest of the world did very well, and in fact, was almost equal to the economy of Great Britain. Despite the fact that raw materials and cheap labor was imported form southern Italy, a feeling began to emerge that the northern economy was pulling the weight for all of Italy and therefore superior to those in the south. This feeling of superiority only added to the tension between north and south Italy. This tension between the coalitions virtually stopped all governmental decisions every few weeks in ord