HIST350 (Politics of Italy Final Exam Study Guide)

What was the instututional question?

“Should Italy keep the monarchy?’ - Italian people decided by referendum

What was created at the end of WW2?

A constitutient assembly formed of represenatives to create a new constitution for Italy

What did the king of italy to to try and save the monarchy?

The king abdicates the thone, gives it to Umberto the 2nd, then the elections, monarchy or republic?

What happened with the 1946 referendum?

south wanted monarchy, north wanted republic, MONARCHY IS ABOLISHED, king is forced into exile

what happened in the 1946 elections?

first free elections since 1924, women are allowed to vote, the DC won a majority of the seats

What happened with the Constituent Assembly?

Mid 1946-end of 1947 - mostly constituential experts like lawyers, debates between the left and the catholics

What was the Cold War?

No actual fighting, between USSR and USA, proxy wars such as Korea and Vietnam, a sustained state of political tension

what was the USA’s cold war strategy?

Containment

What was the European Recovery program?

The Marshall Plan, helped europe recover after WW2

What was the 1948 election campaign?

USA gave Gasperi a loan of 100 million dollars, new government must have no communism, letter campaign to italian americans, Marshall wanted Gasperi to totally exclude the left, and prevent the Communist party from gaining influence in Italy.

One side wad the DC and the other side was communist and socialist parties

How did the cold war involve italy?

Italy played a key role in the Cold War due to its strategic location and the rise of the Communist Party. The U.S. supported Italy to curb communism, providing aid through the Marshall Plan and establishing NATO bases there.

What happened in the 1948 elections in Italy?

First regular elections after WW2, DC had a landslide victory, regional devision and formation of the Red belt (communism)

PCI Party leader ==> Togliatti is shot leaving parliment, he says be calm and no protests

Who was Alcide De Gasperi?

Prime Minister of Italy from 1945 to 1953, a founding member of the Christian Democracy party, and key figure in post-war reconstruction and European integration.

WHAT HAPPENED TO THE ECONOMY AFTER WW2?

There was an economic crisis after WW2, a drop in productivity, and unemployment. Two main periods ==> reconstruction and then economic boom

What was the long boom period and the five major reasons behind it?

1. World Boom = golden age of international capitalism

2. New economic policy = free market economy (DC party)

3. Southern Development Program

4. cheap energy supply = national energy sources

5. Cheap and ample labor supply = great migration

6. foreign financial aid = Marshall plan

7. european integration

What was the southern devolpment program?

A government initiative aimed at reducing economic disparities between Northern and Southern Italy by investing in infrastructure, industry, and agriculture in the underdeveloped southern regions.

It was a failure and a sucess, the money dissapeared and the divide was still there, but it politically helped the DC pary

What were the historical orgins of the european integration process?

The European integration process has its historical origins in the aftermath of World War II, driven by the desire for economic cooperation to prevent future conflicts, promote stability, and achieve political unity among European nations.

What was Italy’s involvement and particular interest in European integration?

Colloboration instead of conflict, keeping the PCI under control, badly needed raw materials, outlets for its low cosst, exports and surplus population, subsidies for south of Italy

What happened during the social modernization of italy?

Massive urbanization, moving to cities, TVs, broadcasting, unifrom society, mass production of cars and scooters, women are able to be mobile now, fascination with american lifestyles

What happened regarding Italy’s NATO membership?

There were major domestic concerns about Italy joining NATO from the PCI and and PSI, they favored Italian neutralism (Vatican also oppossed)

They were overruled in parliament in 1949

Why was US concerned about Italy becoming a NATO member?

USA was scared Italty would fall to communism, and also scared of risk and embarrassment??? Italy

What was the US foreign policy dilemna after WW2?

Promoting democratic principles on a global scale but being unwilling to accept the results if they are not democratic results

What happened with blocked/limited democracy in Italy after NATO membership?

Italian communists had to be permanently from power, even via democratic elections, this was in place until end of cold war ??

What were the problems concerning limited sovereignty in Italy after nato membership?

Italyt had to grant the usa access to its terriroty and influence over its armed forces (usa bases were stationed in italy)

What was Operation Gladio?

Operation Gladio was a covert NATO operation during the Cold War aimed at countering potential Soviet aggression in Western Europe, involving secret paramilitary groups in Italy and other countries.

Contrasting communist invasion from both outside and within countries

What was the poltiical crisis of the 1950s?

1954, Gasperi (leader and founder of DC and prime minister of italy) suddenly died, leading to a power vacuum and political instability within the Christian Democracy party that resulted in several short-lived governments.

There was an increasinfg erosion of italian government, and electorial support of DC party, if DC lost, left would rise, dc went down and left rose, increasing political polizaration, people moving from center to either left or right

What was the opening to the left?

Political turning point, DC party was eroding, allowing for greater influence and participation of leftist parties in Italian politics during the late 1960s and 1970s

cold war was going on, the PSI starts to become more popular, moved towards more democratic socialism, PCI started to grow bigger than PSI, getting more votes

What was the role of the Vatican in the opening to the left?

John the 23rd becomes pope, does a ton in his five years, wanted to redefine the role of the church in the modern world, wanted more social justice, oversaw the second vatican council in rome, and encouraged dialoge with leftists???????

What was the role of the usa in the opening to the left?

JFK was president, cuban missile crisis, kennedys political advisors wanted a center left government in italy, wanted to isolate the PCI and have more social reforms to counter communist influence in Europe.

What was Nenni’s staregty of realpoltik?

Politics based on rational thinking, prgamtaic consdierations, instead of ideological practices

Petiro Nenni (PSI leader) recognzied cold war realities, wanted to do reforms instead of revolution, wanted more fair distribitoon of wealth

What happened with the italian student revolt?

One accomplisgment was made and that was the reform to higher education, compulsory secondary education, children were more educated, so then, italian student protestsb began exploding across the country, hot autumn happened

What was black terrorism?

A term referring to acts of political violence and terrorism carried out by left and right groups in Italy during the 1970s

Groups such as Ordine Nouvo

(Bomb exploded in Milan)

What was the strategy of tension?

Turning shift to LEFT to shift to RIGHT, violence against soft targets, the creation of the P2, main objective was to undermine shift to left by all means

What was regionalism?

June 1970: first nation wide regional elections, devolution of power, a more effective government, red belt, commie governments on the rise in the south

What was the Historic Compromise?

New PCI leader, Enrico Berlinguer, wanted to do compromise, based on realpolitik, IF PCI WANTED A ROLE IN THE GOVT, THEY WERE GOING TO HAVE TO WORK WITH THE DC, ie with Aldo Moro, leader of

What was Eurocommunism?

A political movement in the 1970s where communist parties in Western Europe sought to adapt Marxist ideals to democratic frameworks, promoting a unique form of socialism distinct from Soviet influence.

What was Red terrorism?

Early 1970s: red brigades, left wing terrorist organization, using violence to destabilize the Italian state, wanted to sabotage Berlinguers historic compromise and promote a left revolution

What happened during the 1975 elections?

a lot of violence leading up to these elections, such as bomb explosions, red belt is confirmed, DC hegemony is endagered, fear of being surpassed by the PCI

What happened during the 1976 elections?

parlimentary elections in 1976,secondf landmark elections, DC received more votes than the PCI, and maintained its position as the dominant party, despite a significant increase in support for the Italian Communist Party.

What happened during the years of bullets?

Middle of the 1970s: Period of peak tensions, esclation of political violence, commited by black and red terrorists, italians killing italians,

What happened with the kidnapping and killing of aldo moro?

1978: Aldo Moro was on his way to parliament, he was DC leader and prime minister, had the intention to declare closer cooperation between DC and PCI, he was grabbed by Red Brigades, held hostage for 55 days before being found dead

Killed to sabotage the historic compromise.

What brought the historic compromise to an end?

Aldo Moro was kidnapped and killed by the Red Brigades, and ended the compromise between the DC and the PC, Moro was replaced by Andreotti

What was the P2 Scandal?

March 1981: PS existence unveiled, 962 members found on a list, plan for democratic recovery discovered, reshape italian democracy, government collasped as a result of the PS scandal, it was very bad

What was the Era Craxi?

Crazi was appointed new PSI party leader in 1976, he was very anticommunism, designed new logo for PSI, wanted to make the PSi the second largest Italian party ever (he failed), simplified politics, wanted reform

What was the Sigonella Crisis?

The Sigonella Crisis was a diplomatic crisis in 1985 between Italy and the United States over the hijacking of the Achille Lauro cruise ship by the Palestine Liberation Organization, they killed a disabled American man, which led to USA forcing the plane carrying the terrorists to land at the american base in sicily, standoff, reagan finally backed down. Italy stood up to America.

How were the Lateran Treaties revised?

The Concordat was the only part revised of the treaty, the financial part and the state treaty were not touched, catholicism was no longer the official religion, religon in italian schools was no longer compolsory, marriage in church only was not sufficient

What was the Northen League?

1980s: Emergence of regional leagues in Northern Italy, the mission was to articulate and defend the intrests of the north, shift in italian politics, didnt feel like DC represented them, wanted to divide italy into three separate countries, devastating effects on the DC

What happened during the end of the cold war?

Gorbachev announced reforms, reagan to visit berlin, revolution in eastern europe, collapse of USSR, DC loses votes, PCI dissolved, transformed into the PDS??????

What was the collapse of the old party system?

1993: Collapse of the governing parties such as the DC, SD, etc because of the Tagentopoli corruption scandal, emergnce of the northen league, and end of the cold war, formation of the PDS from the PCI, MSI and Northern league were on the right

What was Berlusconi’s business career?

Silvio Berlusconi started business career in 1960, initially in construction and then expanded into television broadcasting, thought it was a goldmine, yet there was still havy regulations on tv broadcasting.

How did Berlusconi’s business career connect to deregulating Private TV broadcasting?

Creation of the RAI, state monopoly on TV, Supreme court said private TV broadcasting in possible but only at the local level, Berlusconi wanted to crate the first national private TV network, did it by bypassing the law, did a bunch of local TV stations broadcasting at the same time, effectivky one single national channel

What is a summary of Berlusconi’s political career?

Berlusconi created mediaset, and the judges ordered him to stop, he wanted to change the law, so he asked Craxi to help, Craxi passed a law legalizing national private TV broadcasting. He later became prime minister multiple times.

How was Forza Italian created and why?

Forza Italia was created in 1994 by Silvio Berlusconi as a political party to support his business interests and promote a pro-business agenda in Italy. It aimed to unite various center-right factions and provide a strong alternative to the left-wing government.