ITALY - MUSINGS ON A DEMOCRACY

"So Italy reverts to type", a BBC World presenter commented disparagingly last night after announcing that the Prodi government had just resigned. Yes, it does seem that way sometimes to people outside Italy and I meet many Italians who are concerned about the image of their country abroad generated by the constant changes of government.

But reserve your judgement for a moment, as if you look at the parliamentary system it should be perfect: both Chambers in the Italian Parliament have equal rights , the Senate or upper Chamber is elected [apart from former Presidents and up to five members appointed by the Prime Minister sitting as life senators] and a proportional representation system which the British Lib-Dems might envy, on paper, operates. So why doesn't it work? Largely because the proportional system leads to the election of many smaller parties, which in itself gives rise to a need for coalitions. The Prodi Unione coalition included eleven parties when I last counted and these were as far apart, ideologically, as the Greens and the unreformed Communists. So it was always going to be a difficult group to hold together and few people here expected the government to last a year!

Another factor is that Italians are anything but apathetic politically [ with voter turnout at 83.6% in the 2006 general election]. If there is a burning issue, few here would profess themselves as an "I don't know" on it. Rather, they are out in the piazze demonstrating and making their feelings felt very quickly, so last week's protests at the planned expansion of the US base at Vicenza have had an impact. You see this political commitment in schools, too; perhaps because some of Italy's freedoms have been won relatively recently, people are not complacent about them, and young people are willing to make their voices heard, participate in a school strike or demonstrate in a way that would be unimaginable in the UK. All this, in my opinion, is healthy.

This is a country that elected Berlusconi in full knowledge, or almost full knowledge, of the former Premier's faults; yet someone like Blair would not last one, let alone ten years here. There would have been so many hard-hitting demonstrations against him by now, and certainly a vote of no confidence.

No one could pretend that these constant changes of government are good for the country or a recipe for stability, yet they do show democracy in action. And for all its faults, let us not forget that this country of very diverse regions, unified only since 1861 and ununited by a common language until the advent of television in most homes during the 1960s [ prior to this, the majority spoke dialect] has remained a democracy since the end of World War 11. That, I believe, is a proud achievement.

As I've said before, here it is accepted that politicians are fallible and governments are expected to fall - "pazienza", as they are saying in the cafés and out on the streets right now.