Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Map of Italy showing regional borders and capitals
- 1 The political context
- 2 The Christian Democrats: The indispensable center?
- 3 The Communists' struggle for legitimacy and acceptance
- 4 The ambiguous role of the Socialists
- 5 The small parties: The lay forces and the extremes
- 6 Parliament, prime minister, and president
- 7 Public administration and sottogoverno
- 8 The administration of justice
- 9 Dangers to the state: Plots, terrorism, and the mafia
- 10 Economic and social transformation
- 11 Regional devolution and the problem of the South
- 12 The changing relations between church and state
- 13 Foreign and security policy
- 14 “But it does move” – a summing up
- Appendixes
- Bibliography
- Index
6 - Parliament, prime minister, and president
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 03 May 2010
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- Map of Italy showing regional borders and capitals
- 1 The political context
- 2 The Christian Democrats: The indispensable center?
- 3 The Communists' struggle for legitimacy and acceptance
- 4 The ambiguous role of the Socialists
- 5 The small parties: The lay forces and the extremes
- 6 Parliament, prime minister, and president
- 7 Public administration and sottogoverno
- 8 The administration of justice
- 9 Dangers to the state: Plots, terrorism, and the mafia
- 10 Economic and social transformation
- 11 Regional devolution and the problem of the South
- 12 The changing relations between church and state
- 13 Foreign and security policy
- 14 “But it does move” – a summing up
- Appendixes
- Bibliography
- Index
Summary
Although an Italian government remained juridically intact both with the ouster of Mussolini in 1943 and throughout the American and British occupation, it was not until 1946 that political leaders could come to grips with the task of giving shape to the postwar state. In June of that year Italian electors, who now for the first time included women, were summoned to vote on two important issues. One was a referendum on whether to maintain the monarchy. In this, 54 percent of the voters favored a republic. Despite a strong majority for the monarchy in the South and the existence of a Monarchist party there for many years, royalist sentiment evaporated almost immediately. The other issue was the election of an assembly to draft a new constitution. The voting produced a modest majority for parties of the center and right. But no single group dominated the drafting sessions and even in the face of the deepening cleavage at the time between the Communists and Christian Democrats, the final document represented a broad consensus and was approved by virtually all delegates except the Monarchists. It went into effect on the first day of January 1948.
The constitution created governing institutions essentially along the lines of orthodox parliamentary democracy. In their eagerness to erect barriers against the possible rise of another dictatorship, however, the drafters circumscribed these institutions with a variety of checks.
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- Information
- ItalyA Difficult Democracy: A Survey of Italian Politics, pp. 103 - 126Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 1986