The personal presidency of Silvio Berlusconi

Abstract

ABSTRACT No politician in Italy has embodied the characteristics of the Second Republic more profoundly than Silvio Berlusconi. This is not only because he served as Prime Minister on four occasions over three decades, and, along with Alcide De Gasperi, is the only leader to have completed an entire legislature. Nor is it solely due to the fact that Berlusconi’s mandates appeared to have been bestowed directly, by the people, an impression facilitated by the bipolarization of the party system he helped establish and which paved the way for the processes of Italian presidentialization. Most significantly, it is because Berlusconi adopted a personal presidency, navigating the tension between two elements. On one hand, he increasingly sought more powers for himself, showing great impatience with the perceived procedural delays of Parliament and oversight bodies; on the other hand, he never fully institutionalized a new role for the leader of the Government, leaving it inextricably tied to and dependent on his persona. This article aims to explore the role Silvio Berlusconi played as Presidente del Consiglio dei Ministri (President of the Council of Ministers) and to examine his political-institutional legacy.