ITALY: Berlusconi, Europe and America

Roy Domenico says: "I would like to comment on two points brought up in Christopher Jones' recent note on Italy. He mentions the Berlusconi PR booklet, Una Storia Italiana. One of the interesting things about Berlusconi is his "American" campaign sense of which Una Storia Italiana serves as an example. Actually, it was mailed to every Italian household, and the Forza Italia offices keep stacks of them around for easy distribution. I would also caution about viewing Christian Democracy as a washed up movement that nobody cares about anymore - for at least two reasons. A number of key Italian poltical figures are either former DC figures or are still members of current DC splinter parties; off the top of my head I can think of Romano Prodi, Rosy Bindi, Gianferdinando Casini (the Head of the Chamber of Deputies), and the philosopher/politician Rocco Buttiglione. The second reason is that, in all, the DC splinters still add up to a significant part of Italian politics, with significant potential for the future: there remains a vacuum in the political center that the DC formerly occupied. And a big question mark in Italian politics centers on Silvio Berlusconi who has courted the Catholics with some (but qualified) success. Will his party survive him? And if not, where will those ex-DC voters go?"

Ronald Hilton - 7/13/03