SIMON PARKER - The New Italian Republic : From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to Berlusconi

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The New Italian Republic

Since the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989 and following the subsequent Tangentopoli (Kickback City) scandals, Italian political life has been transformed by the dissolution of the Italian Communist Party and the demise of the Christian Democrats, the Socialists and their government allies.

The New Italian Republic charts the collapse of the old party system and examines the changed political climate that allowed new protagonists such as the Northern League and Silvio Berlusconi to rise to political prominence. The first part of the book sets the crisis in historical context and explores the political changes that resulted from electoral reforms. In the second part, the old party system is analysed with chapters on the main political parties including the Christian Democrats, the Socialists, the Communists and the lay Centre parties. The third section is concerned with the new party organisations and includes chapters on Forza Italia, the far Right, the Democratic Party of the Left (PDS), Communist Refoundation and La Rete. The fourth and fifth sections deal respectively with the wider social and economic aspects of these political changes, with separate chapters on political corruption, the role of the judges, organised crime, the South, the mass media, the labour movement, public-sector reform and economic elites. A final chapter considers recent political changes in Italy within a European perspective.

Stephen Gundle is Lecturer in Italian History at Royal Holloway, University of London. Simon Parker is Lecturer in Politics at the University of York.

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From the Fall of the Berlin Wall to Berlusconi

Edited by

Stephen Gundle and Simon Parker

London and New York

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First published 1996
by Routledge
11 New Fetter Lane, London EC4P 4EE

This edition published in the Taylor & Francis e-Library, 2003.

Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada
by Routledge
29 West 35th Street, New York, NY 10001

1996 Stephen Gundle and Simon Parker, the collection
as a whole; the contributors, individual chapters

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or
reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic,
mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter
invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any
information storage or retrieval system, without permission in
writing from the publishers.

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

Library of Congress Cataloguing in Publication Data
A catalogue record for this book has been requested

ISBN 0-203-43144-8 Master e-book ISBN

ISBN 0-203-29247-2 (OEB Format)

ISBN 0-415-12161-2 (hbk)

ISBN 0-415-12162-0 (pbk)

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