The Weaknesses of the Democratic Government in Italy

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Recommended: Corruption and bribery

The Weaknesses of the Democratic Government in Italy

One of the main weaknesses of the Italian Democratic Government was

the way it was made up and what it consisted of. During the course of

time from when the unification of Italy took place through to the end

of the First World War, the parliamentary system had established

itself only through bribery and corruption. This was called

‘transformismo’. The proportional representation system meant that

there were lots of splinter parties, and that coalitions had to be

formed in order for there to be any kind of majority. Coalitions

themselves do not mean a government is automatically unstable, it

depends on the social background of the country and the parties

involved.

The main parties in question were Liberals, the Popolari and the

Socialists. These parties had completely different ideals; there was

no way that a successful alliance could be formed. For example,

Socialists hated the church, and wanted to redistribute all the wealth

from it, there was no way that they would collaborate with the

Catholic Popolari. The Popolari hated the Socialists because they

were Atheist. In turn, the Liberals had taken over the Papal States

and driven the Pope out, there was no way that the Popolari would be

able to get on with them. The Liberals and Socialists would not be

able to co-rule successfully as the Liberals were made up of wealthy

factory owners and the Socialists were the ones campaigning for a

‘8-hour working day’ and were part of Trade Unions. The Socialists

blamed the Liberals for war. A major point to remember is that the

Russian Revolution had just taken place in 1917, and many Italians

felt the threat of a Communist uprising looming because of the

Socialist Party. The consequence of all this was an incredibly

unstable government. The Liberals, even though they only obtained 41

votes in the August 1919 elections ended up in power.

The result of a minority party being in power meant that they had no

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