In 1999, Italy experienced another year of political uncertainty. The centre-left coalition government was weakened by infighting throughout the year and paid a high electoral price for its failure to present a common front to the electorate. In June, Silvio Berlusconi's Liberty Pole coalition won substantial victories in local elections including a symbolic triumph in Bologna, a stronghold of the Italian left. In December, bickering inside his parliamentary majority forced Massimo D'Alema, the prime minister, to reshuffle his cabinet. This was the first government crisis to be handled by Carlo Azeglio Ciampi, who became the tenth President of the Republic in May 1999. In the autumn, Giulio Andreotti, a seven-times prime minister, was acquitted of having colluded with the Sicilian Mafia, and with having ordered the murder.
Table of Contents:
Chapter 1. Introduction: The Faltering Transition
Mark Gilbert and Gianfranco Pasquino
Chapter 2. Forced Ally? Italy and ‘Operation Allied Force’
Osvaldo Croci
Chapter 3. The End of Italy’s Referendum Anomaly?
Mark Donovan
Chapter 4. The Municipal Elections of 1999 and the «Defeat» of the Left in Bologna
Gianfranco Baldini, Guido Legnante
Chapter 5. The 1999 Elections to the European Parliament
Philip Daniels
Chapter 6. The Election of Carlo Azeglio Ciampi to the Presidency of the Republic
Gianfranco Pasquino
Chapter 7. History in the Courts: Andreotti’s Two Acquittals
Jean-Louis Briquet
Chapter 8. The Funding of Political Parties and Control of the Media: Another Italian Anomalyion
Véronique Pujas
Chapter 9. Transformations in Italian Capitalism: an Analysis of Olivetti’s Takeover of Telecom Italia
Dwayne Woods
Chapter 10. Italy’s December 1998 «Social Pact for Development and Employment»: Towards a New Political Economy for a «Normal Country»?
Michael Contarino
Chapter 11. The New South in the New Europe: the Case of Sviluppo Italia
Vincent Della Sala
Documentary Appendix
Compiled by Davide Martelli
About the Author :
Mark Gilbert is Lecturer in Italian History and Politics at the University of Bath.
Review :
"This volume, ... in the invaluable Istituto Cattaneo annual series, is a very good example of the series in terms of quality and informative content ...[It] offers beginning students and seasoned scholars both necessary information and ample food for thought about the current phase of Italy's political development, and is a must for both university and private libraries." · Italian Politics & Society
