Suchergebnisse

The paper deals with the reestablishment of a political class in Italy after the crisis of mid-nineties. Starting from the discussion of three crucial moments in the process of consolidation of the political elite -- namely the entrance to the pool of the national politicians, the circulation in parliament & the ministerial recruitment -- the paper argues that a process of adaptation, rather than a dramatic change in the nature of political class, has characterized the last two decades in Italy. Indeed, after four elections & twelve years of alternation in power between the two electoral alliances, a number of questions are still on the table concerning the future of the Italian ruling class. The social & political characters of today's core political leaders are not very different from what used to be the profile of the political class of the so called first republic. In the mean time, the bipolarized & alternating system of government has brought a number of significant innovations which are to be tested in the years coming. However, the specificities of the Italian electoral regime & the recent electoral reforms cannot be used to explain the magnitude of change. On the contrary, the electoral reforms may have been used by the same politicians to reach agreement & compromise in order to keep a number of benefits & limit the turnover within the political class. Tables, Figures, References. Adapted from the source document.

Political scientists show little confidence in attempts at forecasting. To all hypotheses aiming at the prediction of the future, they much prefer statistical projections that are satisfied to reach the smallest possible uncertainty or the realistically highest degree of probability. Among the approaches implying these attitudes one may single out those connected with institutional as well as systemic analyses of politics. In no other political science approach but the systemic, induction always ends with a probabilistic conclusion. Therefore, the cognitive outcomes of every forecasting activity present rather different degrees of probability. On its part, the institutional approach indicates that all forecasting inquiries concerning the processes of construction of political institutions appear very complicated. All the changes represented by the weakening of parliaments, the strengthening of the executives, party government, & the personalization of leadership are filtered through phenomena of inertia & routine resistances. Hence, when aiming at acquiring knowledge that may identify objective causal relationships, any forecasting effort encounters many difficulties. The pursuit of this kind of knowledge is then obliged to take into account several diversified variables as well as their covariation. The findings are often quite poor. Nonetheless, this article suggests that the risk of making mistakes & reaching often disappointing outcomes should not deter scholars from trying to engage in a sustained forecasting effort. After all, the findings will still be susceptible to revisions & corrections. 79 References. Adapted from the source document.

This paper aims to analyze the question of legal personality of European Union to show the interpretation of this current aspect. The EU's personality has been recognized progressively to the Member States & to the International Organizations. The legal personality is a kind of "added value," vested by an appropriate international rule ad hoc to recognize personality to all corporate bodies, which have got the typical features of the sovereignty: people & territory. Recent years have seen a new debate on the future of Europe. In 2001, after the Treaty of Nice, the European Council adopted the Declaration on the future of EU, committing the Union to becoming more democratic, transparent & effective. It agreed to draft the Treaty establishing a Constitution for the Europe. This was the basis for the text adopted in the 2004, signed in Rome by the Heads of State & Government of the Member States. The text set out the values of the EU. It put the Charter of Fundamental Rights at the heart of the EU law, strengthening the guarantee of civil & political rights for all European citizens. The draft Treaty gave personality to the EU enabling it to sign International Agreements. The Berlin Declaration of the 2007 had meant the symbol of a reunited Europe. In the end of 2007 had been signed the Treaty of Lisbon by the 27 Member States. Our reality, in a so rapid evolution, faces the globalization of the economics, the climatic changes, the demographic evolution, the safety & the energy: the Europeans must to learn to have confidence in EU. The Treaty of Lisbon has gone into effect in the end of 2009. Adapted from the source document.