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Silvio Berlusconi a housing construction entrepreneur and television magnate who had previously not

Decent Essays

Silvio Berlusconi a housing construction entrepreneur and television magnate who had previously not held any form of political office entered the Italian political landscape in March 1994 after years of an unstable political environment within Italy. Just a year before Berlusconi was catapulted into the political arena, Italy had dramatically changed the political process in which they voted. In the referendum of 1993, Italy implemented a diversified electoral structure for the election of both branches of its bicameral legislature. This changed Italy’s political system beyond the realm of recognition in relation to the voting behaviour of Italians. Voters approved historical changes in the distribution of votes in Italian elections. This …show more content…

These cornerstones were Catholicism and the ideology that made many Italians fear for their future, Communism.
The referendum in 1993 brought about change, not just political change which by its nature is to be expected but also a change deriving from legality. Across Europe in the early 1990s change was rife, with the collapse of the Berlin Wall in the late 1980s there was a change in political parties and politics. With the traditional parties suffering electoral difficulties. Newell argues that the change in Europe’s political landscape led to the direct encouragement of stirrings that lead to a series of vital “judicial investigations of political corruption” (Newell,2011)
Investigations into post-war Italy is corrupt political system began in 1992 and rapidly highlighted the dying situation that Italy faced politically. The 1992 investigation which became known as “mani pulite” or “clean hands “ led to many members of the Italian parliament being subjected to judicial review. Towards the end of 1993, there were no less than 251 parliamentarians who were under judicial investigation by the clean hands team.
This background allowed for Berlusconi to

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