The Government and Economy of Italy
The Government and Economy of Italy
In this essay I will talk about Europe’s organization in general, and why I’m very proud to be European! The focus will be on my country in details, its actual government, values and the general economic situation in the last years.
Italy became a nation-state in 1861 when the city-states of the peninsula, along with Sardinia and Sicily, were united under King Victor EMMANUEL. An era of parliamentary government came close in the 1920s when Benito MUSSOLINI established a Fascist dictatorship. His disastrous alliance with Germany led to Italy's defeat in World War II.
That period was very bad for the whole Nation, people didn’t really understand, at the beginning what was going on when Mussolini took office. He was a very proud man, a dictator with a clear project: make of Italy a known place all over the world. What he wanted actually happened, but it was not what Italians had figured to happen in their immediate future.
The Government has always been a fictitious issue. When somebody is elected as Prime Minister, there is no way to remove him from his office. The term lasts five years. Five years is a very long time, and lots of things can happen. Although there is a President, his only function is to represent the Nation and encourage people in bad moments. The Prime Minister is at the head of the Government. Some of the legislative powers are in his hands, and some belongs to the Parliament.
The Parliament consist of the Senate (315 seats elected by popular vote of which 232 are directly elected and 83 are elected by regional proportional representation plus, in addition, there are a small number of senators-for-life including former presidents of the republic; members serve five-year terms) and the Chamber of Deputies (630 seats; 475 are directly elected, 155 by regional proportional representation; members serve five-year terms).
The confusing thing is the period preceding elections. This is because there are so many parties, that most of the time people are not able to understand the difference between them. They make coalitions between each other; the most of the time only with the purpose to have more chances to win. This is very unproductive. During the days before the elections, politicians make promises to each other and to the populations. They try to catch each other before somebody else does. Sometimes it’s...