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After World War II and the overthrow of Mussolini's fascist regime, Italy's history was dominated by the Christian Democracy (''Democrazia Cristiana'', DC) political party for 48 years - from the 1946 election until the 1994 election - while the opposition was led by the Italian Communist Party (PCI). This situation changed due to an external shock - the crisis and Dissolution of the Soviet Union - and internal one - the ''Tangentopoli'' corruption scandal and operation ''Mani pulite'' (Italian for "Clean Hands"). These international and national political turmoils led to the reform of the electoral system (from almost perfect proportional to uninominal/multi-seat circumscriptions) and radical restructuring of the Italian political system, including the dissolution of most traditional political parties, including Christian Democracy and PCI. In 1994, in the midst of the ''Mani Pulite'' operation which shook political parties, media magnate Silvio Berlusconi, owner of three private TV channels, several newspapers and magazines, and Italy's main publishing house Mondadori, won the March 27 general election and formed the Berlusconi I Cabinet. Although ousted after a few months of government, Berlusconi became one of Italy's most important political and economic figures for the next two decades. After leading the Opposition to the Dini (1995-1996), Prodi I (1996-1998), D'Alema I (1998-1999), D'Alema II (1999-2000), and Amato II Cabinet (2000-2001), Berlusconi returned to power in 2001 after winning the 13 May general election. He eventually lost the 2006 general election five years later to Romano Prodi and his Union coalition but won the 2008 general election and returned to power in June 2008. In November 2011, Berlusconi lost his majority in the Chamber of Deputies, and resigned. His successor, Mario Monti formed a new government, composed by "technicians" and supported by both the center-left and the center-right parties. After the 2013 election resulted in a hung parliament, in April the Vice-Secretary of the Democratic Party, Enrico Letta, formed a Cabinet composed by both center-left and the center-right parties. On 22 February 2014, after tensions in the Democratic Party, the PD's Secretary Matteo Renzi sworn as new Prime Minister. == The birth of the Republic (1946–1948) == In the final phases of World War II, King Victor Emmanuel III, tainted by his former support for the Fascist Regime, had tried to save the monarchy by nominating his son and heir Umberto "general lieutenant of the kingdom"; the king promised that after the end of the war the Italian people could choose its form of government through a referendum. In April 1945, the Allies of World War II advanced in the Po plain supported by the Italian resistance movement, and defeated the fascist Italian Social Republic, a puppet state instituted by Nazi Germany and headed by Benito Mussolini. Mussolini was killed by resistance fighters in April 1945. Victor Emmanuel formally abdicated on 4 May 1946; his son became king as Umberto II of Italy. A Constitutional Referendum was held on 2 June 1946. Republicans won, and the monarchy was abolished. The Kingdom of Italy was no more. The House of Savoy, the Italian royal family, was exiled. Victor Emmanuel left for Egypt where he died in 1947. Umberto, who had been king for only a month, moved to Portugal. The referendum at the origin of the Italian republic was, however, the subject of some controversy, not least because of some contested results and because of a geographical divide between the North, where the Republic won a clear majority, and the South, where the monarchists were in a majority. A Constituent Assembly was in place between June 1946 and January 1948; it wrote the new Constitution of Italy which took effect on January 1, 1948. The Peace Treaty between Italy and the Allies of World War II was signed in Paris in February 1947. In 1946, the main Italian political parties were: * Christian Democracy (DC) * Italian Socialist Party (PSI) * Italian Communist Party (PCI) Each party had run separate candidates in the 1946 general election, and the Christian Democrats won a plurality of votes. The PSI and the PCI received some ministerial posts in a Christian Democrat–led coalition cabinet. PCI’s leader Palmiro Togliatti was minister of Justice. However, as in France where Maurice Thorez and four other communist ministers were forced to leave Paul Ramadier's government during the May 1947 crisis, both the Italian Communists (PCI) and Socialists (PSI) were excluded from government the same month under Harry Truman's pressures. Since the PSI and the PCI together received more votes than the Christian Democrats, they decided to unite in 1948 to form the Popular Democratic Front (FDP). The 1948 general elections were heavily influenced by the then flaring cold-war confrontation between the Soviet Union and the US. After the Soviet-inspired February 1948 communist coup in Czechoslovakia the US became alarmed about Soviet intentions and feared that the Soviet funded PCI would draw Italy into the Soviet Union's sphere of influence if the leftist coalition were to win the elections. In response, on March 1948 the United States National Security Council issued its first document proffering recommendations to avoid such an outcome which were widely and energetically implemented. Ten million letters were sent by mostly Italian Americans urging Italians not to vote communist. US agencies made numerous short-wave propaganda radio broadcasts and funded the publishing of books and articles, warning the Italians of the perceived consequences of a communist victory. The CIA also funded the centre-right political parties and was accused of publishing forged letters in order to discredit the leaders of the PCI. The PCI itself was accused of being funded by Moscow and the Cominform, and in particular via export deals to the Communist countries. Fears in the Italian electorate of a possible Communist takeover proved crucial for the electoral outcome on 18 April; the Christian Democrats (''Democrazia Cristiana''), under the undisputed leadership of Alcide De Gasperi won a resounding victory with 48 percent of the vote (their best result ever, and not repeated since) while the FDP only received 31 percent of the votes. The Communist party widely outdid the Socialists in the distribution of seats in Parliament, and gained a solid position as the main opposition party in Italy, even if it would never return in government. For almost four decades, Italian elections were successively won by the ''Democrazia Cristiana'' (DC) centrist party. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「History of the Italian Republic」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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