TIME: Almanac 1995

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<text id=93CT1736> <title> Italy--History </title> <history> Compact ALMANAC--CIA Factbook Europe Italy </history> <article> <source>CIA World Factbook</source> <hdr> History </hdr> <body> Modern Italian history dates from 1870 with the unification of the entire peninsula under King Victor Emmanuel II of the House of Savoy. From 1870 until 1922, Italy was a constitutional monarchy with a parliament elected under limited suffrage. During World War I, Italy denounced its standing alliance with Germany and Austria-Hungary and in 1915 entered the war on the side of the Allies. Under the postwar settlement, Italy received some former Austrian territory along the northeast frontier. In 1922, Benito Mussolini came to power and, over the next few years, eliminated the old political parties, curtailed personal liberties, and installed a Fascist dictatorship called the Corporate State. The king, with little or no power, remained titular head of state. During World War II, Italy allied with Germany and declared war on the United Kingdom and France in 1940. Following the allied in invasion of Sicily in 1943, Italy became a cobelligerent of the Allies against Germany. A noteworthy popular resistance movement was conducted against the remaining Germans, who were driven out in April 1945. The monarchy was ended by a 1946 plebiscite, and a constituent assembly was elected to draw up plans for the republic. Under the 1947 peace treaty, minor adjustments were made in Italy's frontier with France; the eastern border area was transferred to Yugoslavia; and the area around the city of Trieste was designated as a free territory. In 1954, the free territory, which had remained under the administration of U.S.-U.K. forces (Zone A, including the city of Trieste) and Yugoslav forces (Zone B), was divided between Italy and Yugoslavia, principally along the zonal boundary. This arrangement was made permanent by the Italian-Yugoslav Treaty of Osimo, ratified in 1977. Under the 1947 peace treaty, Italy also gave up its overseas territories and certain Mediterranean islands. The Roman Catholic Church's position in Italy, since its temporal powers ended in 1870, has been governed by a series of accords with the Italian Government. Under the Lateran Pacts of 1929, which were confirmed by the present constitution, the Vatican City state is recognized by Italy as an independent, sovereign state. While preserving that recognition, in 1984 Italy and the Vatican updated several provisions of the 1929 accords. Included was the end of Roman Catholicism as Italy's formal state religion. Current Political Conditions Italy has about a dozen political parties, some extremely small. The following are the most important, in order of their approximate strength in the Chamber of Deputies deriving from the last general elections in 1987. -- The Christian Democratic Party (DC), descendant of the Popular Party of the pre-Fascist era, has been the core of all postwar governments. It represents a wide range of interests and views, which sometimes make it difficult to reach agreement on specific issues. The party polled 34.3% of the popular vote in 1987. Party Secretary: Arnaldo Forlani. Official newspaper: Il Popolo. -- The Italian Communist Party (PCI), the largest communist party in Western Europe, once supported almost regularly Soviet foreign policy and has taken pro-labor, reformist stances in domestic affairs. In 1987, it won 26.6% of the popular vote. Secretary General: Achille Occhetto. Newspaper: L'Unita. -- The Italian Socialist Party (PSI) has moved toward the center of the Italian political spectrum under the leadership of Party Secretary Bettino Craxi. It polled 14.3% of the 1987 vote. After the 1983 parliamentary elections, Craxi became the first socialist prime minister in Italy's history, heading a government composed of Christian Democrats, Republicans, Liberals, and Social Democrats. Party Secretary: Benedetto (Bettino) Craxi. Newspaper: Avanti! -- The Italian Social Movement (MSI), on the right, has older members imbued with the traditions of fascism. The movement polled 5.9% of the popular vote in 1987. Political Secretary: Gianfranco Fini. Newspaper: Il Secolo. -- The small Italian Republican Party (PRI) traditionally has supported republican institutions and polled 3.7% of the vote in 1987. Party Secretary Giovanni Spadolini became the first non-DC prime minister of the postwar era in June 1981. Party Secretary: Giorgio La Malfa. Newspaper: La Voce Repubblicana. -- The Italian Social Democratic Party (PSDI) polled 3.0% of the vote in 1987. Party Secretary: Antonia Cariglia. Newspaper: Umanita. -- The Italian Liberal Party (PLI) reflects classical European liberalism in the sense of an orientation toward capitalism, individualism, and free enterprise in contrast to statism. The PLI has evolved into a small but widely respected party of conscience occupying a center-right niche in the Italian political spectrum. They received 2.9% of the popular vote in 1983 and 2.1% in 1987. Secretary: Renato Altissimo. -- The Radical Party has formally adopted the name "European Federalists." The party secretaryship is held for a 6-month period by various members of the party leadership. The party has helped influence social change in Italy by sponsoring referenda such as divorce and abortion. It garnered 2.6% of the vote in 1987. -- The Greens Party entered parliament for the first time in 1987 with 13 deputies and one senator. The party, which campaigned on an antinuclear and environmentalist platform, won 2.5% of the vote. The Greens are a loosely organized alliance of environmentalist and peace groups and have resisted the label of "political party." Postwar Conditions Despite frequent government turnovers, the Italian political situation has been relatively stable, principally because of the continuity of the DC as Italy's party of relative majority. Italian governments have consistently been oriented around the DC, which since 1945 has governed in coalition with other parties or alone. Three DC leaders--the late Premier Alcide De Gasperi, former Premier Amintore Fanfani, and the late Premier Aldo Moro--dominated the Italian political scene for most of that time. From 1947 to the late 1950s, Christian Democrats led a series of "center" coalition alignments with the Social Democrats, Republicans, and Liberals. During the l960s, in an effort to expand the "democratic area" and promote reform legislation, the Christian Democrats pursued a "center-left" policy that included the Socialists in the national government and excluded the Liberals. Political and policy divisions with the center-left alignment culminated in 1976 in the dissolution of the parliament and early elections, ending the center-left period. After the elections, which saw a dramatic gain by the PCI, the PSI refused to return to coalition with the DC. No other solution being acceptable, Premier Andreotti formed the first of two DC minority governments that led Italy for 2 1/2 years, first with passive and later with active support by other parties, including the PCI. By late 1978, the ambivalence in this arrangement impelled the PCI to end its support. In ensuing early elections in 1979, the PCI lost a full four points and its 5-year-old "historic compromise" strategy--the goal of coming to power in coalition with the DC--slip further from its grasp. Governments since 1979 have returned to the earlier center-left pattern. In June 1981, the DC relinquished the prime ministry (to Republican Giovanni Spadolini) for the first time in the postwar period, although the DC remained the largest party in the governing coalition. In August 1983, PSI leader Bettino Craxi became prime minister, remaining in that office for two terms until March 1987. The first term was longer than that served by any other Italian prime minister since the war. Early elections in June 1987, in which the PSI made strong gains and the PCI dropped to 26.9% of the vote, were followed by the formation of another five-party coalition government, led this time by Christian Democrat Giovanni Goria. The Goria government fell in March 1988 and was succeeded by another Christian Democratic government led by the party's secretary, Ciriaco De Mita. The Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party is the largest nonruling party in the world and the second largest party in Italy after the Christian Democrats. Communist electoral strength had steadily increased in each succeeding national election to a high of 34.4% of the vote in 1976. Not until the four-point loss in 1979 did the communists drop back in national elections. Except for the immediate post-World War II period, the communists have been kept from participating in the national government, although they share power in many local administrations. Nevertheless, lively debate persists on the degree of "democratization" the communists may be undergoing and, hence, on the possibility of their eventual acceptability as government partners. Although the Communist Party has persuaded many Italians that if it came to power it would not seek to emulate Soviet-style communism, a majority of Italian political opinion remains skeptical of the PCI's true commitment to pluralist, democratic, pro-Western values. Source: U.S. Department of State, Bureau of Public Affairs, October 1990. </body> </article> </text>