Yesterday’s “Economist”:http://www.economist.com/World/europe/displayStory.cfm?story_id=5526708 and “Financial Times”:http://news.ft.com/cms/s/704faaf2-9f59-11da-ba48-0000779e2340.html have uncannily similar stories about the reasons for Berlusconi’s political success.
The _Economist_:
bq. The madly outrageous comments for which the prime minister is famous serve a purpose that is usually unremarked: they focus attention on him, to the exclusion of his political rivals. … Mr Berlusconi set about capitalising on his unrivalled access to the media before the election was formally called. He owns a controlling stake in Italy’s three biggest private television channels and, as prime minister, he can decide the fate of the three which are run by the state. … At one point, Romano Prodi, the former president of the European Union’s commission, who aims to oust Mr Berlusconi, complained that, in the previous fortnight, the prime minister had had 24 times as much television exposure as he had.
The _FT_:
bq. Foreign observers tuning in to Italy’s election campaign were flabbergasted to learn that Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi had alternately compared himself, in the space of about a week, to Napoleon, Churchill and Jesus Christ while also vowing to give up sex until after the April poll. … But distant observers should not be fooled by this apparent buffoonery. There is much method in Mr Berlusconi’s madness. By traditional political standards, these would seem to be mistakes. But in Mr Berlusconi’s world of celebrity politics, there is no such thing as bad publicity – it all translates into audience and ratings. And his performance in recent weeks has helped him slash his centre-left opponent’s lead from 8 per cent to close to zero. Essentially, Mr Berlusconi has transformed Italian life into the world’s longest running reality television show: every day’s lead news – flattering or unflattering, important or trivial – is about Mr Berlusconi.
Both good and interesting pieces (I complain regularly about the _Economist_, but it really has done sterling service in its coverage of Italian politics over the last few years). Depressed American lefties should contemplate Berlusconi’s Italy and think of how much worse things could be; the Republican party, for all its gains in the public sphere, has nothing like the stranglehold on media that Berlusconi has. But they shouldn’t feel too sorry for the Italian left, which seems to yet again be on the verge of bolloxing up what should have been a surefire victory in the forthcoming elections. After surprising itself by running an extraordinarily successful primary campaign to elect Prodi as leader, it seems to have reverted to the usual factional disputes and backstabbing. It may be that the forthcoming indictment of Berlusconi for suborning false testimony (from the “husband”:http://politics.guardian.co.uk/labour/story/0,,1713219,00.html of British Culture Secretary Tessa Jowell no less), will damage his chances a bit (less because his voters care that he’s obviously corrupt than because it’ll make it more difficult for him to control the media’s agenda). Or perhaps the “fuss”:http://www.repubblica.it/2006/b/sezioni/politica/versoelezioni26/readimicalde/readimicalde.html over the resignation of Muslim-baiting minister “Roberto Calderoli”:http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4728188.stm will hurt the right’s re-electability, although I wouldn’t lay hard money on it. But if the left somehow wins in April, it certainly won’t be through any virtue of its own; it really has made an extraordinary mess of the campaign so far.
{ 11 comments }
KL 02.18.06 at 9:28 pm
IIRC, doesn’t the Financial Times own a 50% non-controlling share of The Economist Group?
Brendan 02.19.06 at 8:05 am
and then there’s this too: http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/article345694.ece
It’s always struck me that despite some vague anti-Slavic prejudices left in the minds of Northern Europes that sometimes lead them to attack Russia, Bush and Blair’s ideal ‘democracy’ would be something like a cross between Putin’s Russia and Berlusconi’s Italy. In other words, a country which does have regular (and fair) elections, but with a neutered and controlled press, no (or emasculated) trade unions, an extremely strong ‘security state apparatus’, and real power wielded in the dark and behind the scences by ‘oligarchs’ or that mysterious new kind of businessman who ain’t exactly a businessman, but who ain’t exactly a mafiosi either.
Of course when the right wing blogs attack the decay of democracy in Europe it ain’t Italy they have in mind, even though Italy is by any objective standard the least democratic state in the EU.
otto 02.19.06 at 8:32 am
“Italy is by any objective standard the least democratic state in the EU”
Because of Berlusconi and his influence (even in opposition)? Or more structurally, in relation to political movements/ governments of left and center as well as right?
Don Quijote 02.19.06 at 9:59 am
In other words, a country which does have regular (and fair) elections, but with a neutered and controlled press, no (or emasculated) trade unions, an extremely strong ‘security state apparatus’, and real power wielded in the dark and behind the scences by ‘oligarchs’ or that mysterious new kind of businessman who ain’t exactly a businessman, but who ain’t exactly a mafiosi either.
Sounds like a perfect description of the US political system at the present time.
Brendan 02.19.06 at 11:51 am
‘Italy is by any objective standard the least democratic state in the EUâ€
Well like most people I would define objective as meaning ‘according to me’:)
More seriously, reading a description of post-war Italian politics is simply breathtaking. Bad as British and American political leaders are (or French or German….) I can’t think of an example where, for example, the prime minister was plausibly accused of murder, where the mafia did (and to a slight lesser extent still does) have an influence on the formation of public policy, and where there are persistent (and plausible) accusations of government complicity in neo-fascist terrorism. (http://www.nybooks.com/articles/7178).
Italy, we should never forget, is a country where the fascists actually sit in the government .
otto 02.19.06 at 12:51 pm
Okay – its not just Berlusconi. But I’m not sure that the Italian democratic left (aka pre-mid 1980s Communists) would be implicated in any of the mafia/murder/government involvement in terrorism criticism.
guerrilla radio 02.19.06 at 1:35 pm
Excuses from Italy.
Calderoli is a IDIOT.
Italian people are friends for Islam.
Vik from Milan
imbecilli le provocazioni di Calderoli.
Chi fomenta l’odio religioso in una società che si definisce civile
viene messo in disparte, emarginato.
Noi invece li facciamo ministri.
E ora ne paghiamo le conseguenze,
perchè temo che gli episodi di ieri siano solo l’inizio,
l’immagine dell’Italia già duramente provata
dalla nostra sudditanza e criminale complicitÃ
agli Stati Uniti,
in quelle guerre tramite cui pretendiamo di esportare
i nostri sublimi valori democratici,
(gli stessi da cui che poi partoriscono
illuminate menti come quella del ministro della lega)
sarà ulteriormente danneggiata da questa inopinata iniezione di intolleranza.
Non voglio pensare di trovarmi dinnanzi
durante i mie viaggi
qualche folle estremista religioso che mi sventaglia un coltello dinnanzi
domandandomi se la penso come il Calderoli…
Propongo di esportare Lui al posto della nostra democrazia,
potremmo spedirlo in Pakistan,
già li vedo,
lui e Bin Laden che si alternano sul cucuzzolo della montagna
a salmodiare odio razziale e religioso.
Spediamocelo presto,
senza timore che se lo mangino vivo,
si sa,
da quella parti la carne di maiale
non si sfiora neanche con un dito.
ps.
Via a calci nel sedere anche
Clemente Mimun,
questo ebreo di destra,
pardon
estrema destra filosionista,
vada a condurre nei salotti di casa sua
queste messe in scena di una violenza verbale e intolleranza inaudite.
Non in mondovisione nella nostra rete statale,
lui è responsabile quanto Calderoli.
jet 02.19.06 at 8:29 pm
So Calderoli is just like Bin Laden? What a very clever juxtaposition from the perceptive minds at guerrilla radio. If I strain real hard (and eat the green brownies) I can see the similarity between Calderoli’s T-Shirts and Bin Laden’s dreams of whirling dervishes saw blading down Wall Street leaving dismembered New Yorkers in their paths.
glenn 02.20.06 at 11:31 am
From a American who has struggled to remain sane living in Italy for six years, I can understand the plight of voters here. Clearly, Berlusconi is an ineffectual clown, a buffoon. Sure, he lies, he cheats, he’ll do and say anything to gain an advantage. But no one with any even vague understanding of the deep and structural problems present in the italian economy feels any remote satisfaction voting for Prodi and the left. Berlusconi clearly does not merit being re-elected, as he’s made promises and then has done absolutely nothing for these five years. But voting for Prodi leaves a sickening taste in the mouth, with the risk that Italy could actually go backwards…
Incidentally, I’ve seriously considered sellign tee-shirts with a characature of Berlusconi as Pinocchio, with a very, very long nose with the caption, “In this election, size matters…” But Prodi’s nose would be only slightly shorter, I think.
Zephania 02.21.06 at 10:46 am
“Depressed American lefties should contemplate Berlusconi’s Italy and think of how much worse things could be”
mmm … in Berlusconi’s Italy magistrates issue international arrest warrants against 22 CIA members for kidnapping. I can’t imagine that happening in Moronica.
(Plame is an exception – that is an example of treason not justice).
Zephania 02.21.06 at 11:05 am
“I can’t think of an example where, for example, the prime minister was plausibly accused of murder, ”
I can’t think of an example where, for example, the former prime minister would be in the following position …
“As the Cold War ended, following the juridical investigations into mysterious acts of terrorism in Italy, Prime Minister Giulio Andreotti was forced to confirm in August 1990 that a secret army existed in Italy and other countries across Western Europe that were part of the North Atlantic Treat Organization (NATO). Coordinated by the unorthodox warfare section of NATO, the secret army had been set up by the US secret service Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) and the British Secret Intelligence Service (MI6 or SIS) after the end of the Second World War to fight Communism in Western Europe.”
Perhaps the two points are related?
(The quote is from Daniele Ganser’s book, Operation Gladio).
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