Ministers in Italy: Notables, Party Men, Technocrats and Media Men
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South European Society and Politics ISSN: 1360-8746 (Print) 1743-9612 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/fses20 Ministers in Italy: Notables, Party Men, Technocrats and Media Men Maurizio Cotta & Luca Verzichelli To cite this article: Maurizio Cotta & Luca Verzichelli (2002) Ministers in Italy: Notables, Party Men, Technocrats and Media Men, South European Society and Politics, 7:2, 117-152, DOI: 10.1080/13608740708539627 To link to this article: https://doi.org/10.1080/13608740708539627 Published online: 02 Dec 2009. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 105 View related articles Citing articles: 4 View citing articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=fses20 Ministers in Italy: Notables, Party Men, Technocrats and Media Men MAURIZIO COTTA and LUCA VERZICHELLI Ministers are a rather special group within the larger body of the politicians. They are the politicians who have to carry the political responsibility for the specialized policy functions that relatively developed polities such as modern states are expected to perform. Because of this institutional role they are also very close (although the degree of this proximity may vary somewhat) to the centre of the game for power and its legitimate control. In the end they occupy a political space that is defined on the one hand by the functional requirements of the state at a given point in time, and on the other by the pressures of the dominant political power game of that period, and by the interest those involved in this game have in controlling the administrative apparatus of the state. Competence, effectiveness and specialization versus political legitimation and political loyalty are thus the competing criteria that are involved in the selection of ministers. Under different political regimes these two requirements may change in their specific contents, but not in their fundamental nature. In the period covered by our research, very significant changes have taken place on both dimensions in Italy (as in most countries of Europe). On the first dimension, the actual requirements of policy making and administration have changed from the period of the minimal state to the age of the welfare state and then to that of international liberalism. On This research was made possible, thanks to the funds provided by the University of Siena (PAR 2001 funds) and the Italian National Research Council (1998 and 2000 funds). The research was conducted in connection with the European Science Foundation Eurelite Network (European Political Elites in Comparison: The Long Road to Convergence). The authors acknowledge the help of Francesco Marangoni and Davide Orsini, who collected the data from several biographic sources. Maurizio Cotta is responsible for the first part of the contribution, while Luca Verzichelli is responsible for the section on the Republican age. 118 WHO GOVERNS SOUTHERN EUROPE? the second, the nature and bases of the political game for deciding who can legitimately seek to control executive power have also changed: monarchic legitimacy has been displaced, first by restricted representation, then by mass representation in the age of the great social cleavages, and finally by mass representation in post-modern politics. Both dimensions of transformation have affected, in a visible way, the government structure and its personnel. The transformation of the political game has had a very significant impact upon the channels of recruitment and the career patterns of the political elites. On the other hand the transformation of the functions and role of the state, vis-a-vis society and its problems, has been visibly reflected in the number of ministers - which has grown steadily over the past century (see Figure 1) - and in the competencies of the executive, which have expanded from the relatively limited functions related to maintenance of internal and external order to the much broader palette of functions connected with the promotion of the economy and social equality (Ferrera 1985) (see Figure 2). It must be added, however, that these transformations, which for the greatest part of the period examined here had followed a fundamentally linear trend of growth, have probably entered into a phase of slow-down or even reversal during recent decades. A sign of this could be the decline in the number of ministers and the growing transfer of functions away from national government to independent authorities, local governments, or supranational bodies. It is reasonable to expect that the combined effects of these changes should have had a significant impact upon the features of the ministerial elite. In order to explore this relationship we have identified six main periods of Italian political history which we will use to discuss how much the features of the ministers have changed from one to the other. These periods are as follows: • The early years of the parliamentary Monarchy (1848-61; 1861-76) • The developed parliamentary system (1876-1913) • The first age of mass suffrage (1913-24) • Mass democracy after fascism (1946-92) • The crisis of party democracy (1992-96) • Majoritarian democracy (1996-) MINISTERS IN ITALY 119 FIGURE 1 POOL OF MINISTERIAL POSITIONS: MINISTERS AND JUNIOR SECRETARIES (1861-1922 AND 1945-2001) FIGURE 2a TIMELINE OF THE ITALIAN MINISTRIES (1861-1922) 1861 1866 1871 1876 1881 1886 1891 1896 1901 1906 1911 1916 1921 Foreign Affairs XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Internal Affairs XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X War XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Justice XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Finance XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Education XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Commercial Navy XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Public works XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Agriculture, Industry XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX and Commerce Treasury XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Post and Communications XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX X X Colonies XXXXXXXXX Weapons and Ammunition X X Sea and Rail Transportations XXX Agriculture X X X X X X Industry, Commerce X X X X X X and Employment Food Supplies X Military Assistance and X X Veterans Redeemed Lands X X X X X Employment and Pensions X X X FIGURE 2b TIMELINE OF THE ITALIAN MINISTRIES (1945-2001) 1945 1950 1955 1960 1965 1970 1975 1980 1985 1990 1995 2000 Foreign Affairs X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Internal Affairs X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Justice X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Finance X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Education X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Commercial Navy X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Public Works X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Treasury X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Post and X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Communications Transport X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Agriculture X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Industry, Commerce X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Employment and X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Pensions Budget X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Defence X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Foreign Trade X X X X X X X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx State Industries X X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Health X X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Tourism X X X X X X X xxxxxxxxxxxxxx Cultural Affairs xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx Environment xxxxxxxxx University XX X XX X X Economy (Finance, Treasury, Budget) X Education, University X and Research Infrastructures X Production X 122 WHO GOVERNS SOUTHERN EUROPE? THE EARLY YEARS OF THE PARLIAMENTARY MONARCHY (1848-60; 1861-76) This was the period during which a previously absolute monarchy was transformed into a constitutional and parliamentary monarchy. For Italy, this was also the period of national unification under the leadership of one of the regional states. Italian parliamentary democracy was in fact the offspring of the constitutional monarchy that had developed in the Kingdom of Sardinia between 1848 and 1860,1 after King Charles Albert of Savoy decided, in the wake of the great European upheavals of 1848, to grant to his state a liberal constitution. As a result of the 1859 War of Independence and the subsequent process of Italian unification (1861), the Savoys became the reigning dynasty of the Italian state with the constitution of this regional state becoming that of the new national state. The Italian political system therefore inherited some crucial elements of an older political tradition. It must be said that while the Statuto Albertino (that is to say, the Piedmontese constitution of 1848, which lasted until the new republican one of 1948) did not clearly define a parliamentary regime (and in fact did not formally spell out the principle of the political responsibilities of the government toward parliament) its implementation very soon took on some of the characteristics of that regime. More specifically, Prime Ministers and their cabinets had to have a majority in the elected chamber (Romeo 1984). At the same time, it was quite clear that the monarchy was not yet confined to a purely symbolic role, and was yet able and willing to play a political role in the formation and dismissal of cabinets (and in the selection of ministers).