The Return of Berlusconi [Hardcover]

In 2001, for the first time in the history of the Italian Republic, an opposition replaced the incumbent government as a consequence of an electoral victory. In the May General Election, the center-left government was ousted and a new right-right majority came into office. It would be premature to suggest that this election represents the birth of a new Italian political system, one that will be based on an ongoing alternation in government between two coalitions and a realignment of voters and parties. Nevertheless, the second Berlusconi government  aside from the various political judgments of it  undoubtedly constitutes an institutional and political novelty. This is not just because the left-left proved unable, in the election campaign, to exploit its achievements in office when confronted with someone with undoubted (if controversial) abilities, but also because of the likely impact of the new government on policy making and Italy's economic, social and international trajectory. This edition of Italian Politics evaluates the 2001 election and impact and analyzes the electoral success of the right, the election campaign, the crisis of the left-left after the defeat, and the composition of the new parliament.

Chronology of Events

Introduction:The Return of Berlusconi

Chapter 1.Chronicle of an Expected Victory
Chapter 2.The Election Campaign: Politicians, the Media and Voters
Chapter 3.Parliamentary Groupings from the Thirteenth to the Fourteenth Legislatures: Towards a Stable Majority?
Chapter 4.After the 'Honorable Defeat': the Ds, the Marguerite and the Olive
Chapter 5.Berlusconi in Second Test of Government
Chapter 6.The Italian Presidency of the G8 Summit
Chapter 7.Towards a Federal State? Competing Proposals for Constitutional Revision
Chapter 8.The E-Government: Networked Governance
Chapter 9.Silvio Berlusconi, the Media and tlS°