Suchergebnisse

FREQUENTLY IT HAPPENS IN HISTORY THAT REVOLUTION is followed by restoration or sometimes by reaction. The events that have convulsed Italy for the past two years can be described as a legal revolution. The Italian elections of 27 and 28 March can be seen as forms of restoration, or reaction, or continuation of revolution by other means. From 1992, the enthusiastic popular acclaim which accompanied the thundering clang of prison doors and the scandalous tumble of famous heads resulted in an unexpected final conclusion: the victory of an assorted coalition of rightist and moderate forces, the Freedom Alliance, led by the media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, which gained an absolute majority in the Chamber of Deputies and a qualified majority in the Senate. It was the most important Italian election since 1948, when, after the abolition of the monarchy, Stalinists attempted to seize power democratically.

IN MODERN ITALIAN, 'POLITICAL CLASS' IS A CONCEPT quite distinct from that of a ruling class. The notion of political class applies to a million people who are in full-time politics. The cream of these professional politicians is part of the ruling class: a term which applies to the people who effectively run the country working in business, finance, administration, politics, and so on.In Italy the history of the changing importance of the political class has always been connected with the weakness of the ruling class, which was evident from the beginning of unification. Italy became a nation-state in 1861, largely thanks to the action of a tiny group of patriots consisting of ambitious aristocrats and romantic intellectuals. While in the same period the Prussian monarchy gave strong leadership to the process of unification in Germany, the Piedmont monarchy led the Italian process of national unification under the discreet partnership, open protection, or direct involvement of other major European states. From 1861 to the present time in Italian history many observers have pointed to the weakness of the ruling class and the interference of foreign powers.

A historical reexamination of the Cold war in Italy. The political & economic strategies of the Italian Communist party & the Christian Democrats are discussed, identifying their respective influence on Italy's current situation. Alternatives to the current constitutional system are presented. D. Schwartz

In These Pages We Will Discuss The Thesis That in order to understand the present problems of Italy, one must look back on an era of international politics dominated by the bipolar and conflictual relationship between East and West. This came to an end finally after the failed Moscow coup in mid-1991.From 1946, without interruption, in a Europe divided by the iron curtain, Italy was the frontier country where the cold war was most bitterly fought, because the Italian Communist Party (PCI) was the strongest communist party in the world outside the Soviet empire. From many viewpoints, the Italian Communists were ordinary politicians peacefully involved in cooperatives and in the trade unions. Their management of some important regions and municipalities was judged very favourably by many scholars. In public declarations they stated their preference for a peaceful way to socialism, conversion to liberty, independence from Soviet influence, and acceptance of a democratic system. In fact they shared Moscow's orientations in every international problem where East and West were opposed. Now we understand why: they were heavily financed, directly and indirectly, by the Soviets. But after Yeltsin had thrown out many skeletons from the Kremlin closets, we had the proof that the staunch anti-communists were right. The big lie about Bolshevism concerned Italy also, where the PCI had been helped from Stalin to Gorbachev. This is why still in 1985 the Italian Communists declared the USA to be the only imperialist state in the world.

In the centenary of his death, Lombroso spreads yet polemics. A Court stated for the first time the juridical relevance of behavioural genetics. Some say Lombroso criminology prelude, without knowing it, the discovery of genetic factors of development and brain function, and thus of the behaviour. Even if sincere supporter of enlightened institutional interventions, Lombroso was wrong from many points of view and polemics show the greatness of science to discuss, recognize, correct his errors and errors of medicine in the time in which he lived. The blunders of Lombroso teach how much caution is needed to assess the results of research. The significance of the biological factor remains a problem and a challenge. Today many fear that after having avoided the medicalization of crime, we can fall into bio-medicalization of crime. In the next centenary, the Lombroso biologism will be seen in the light of the consequences of our ability in applying contemporary genetics breakthroughs.