Berlusconi's Italy: Mapping Contemporary Italian Politics (Asian American History & Cultu)

Since 1994, Italian politics has been dominated by the larger-than-life figure of Silvio Berlusconi. Blending discussion of personalities, parties, and policies with detailed geographical analyses, this book provides innovative insight into Berlusconi's career. "Berlusconi's Italy" provides a fresh, thoroughly informed account of how Italy's richest man came to be its political leader. Without dismissing the importance of personalities and political parties, it emphasizes the significance of changes in voting behaviors that led to the rise - and eventual fall - of Silvio Berlusconi, the millionaire media baron who became prime minister.Armed with new data and new analytic tools, Michael Shin and John Agnew reveal that regional politics and shifting geographical voting patterns were far more important to Berlusconi's successes than the widely credited role of the mass media. Shin and Agnew reject the prevailing orthodoxy about how coalitions are organized and replaced in Italy. Instead, using recently developed methods of spatial analysis, they offer a compelling new argument about contextual re-creation and mutation. They conclude that Berlusconi's success (and later defeat) can be best understood in geographic terms, and they suggest that geographical analysis has a useful role to play in examining political behavior in Italy and beyond. Berlusconi's Italy provides a fresh, thoroughly-informed account of how Italy's richest man came to be its political leader. Without dismissing the importance of personalities and political parties, it emphasizes the significance of changes in voting behaviors that led to the rise-and eventual fall-of Silvio Berlusconi, the millionaire media baron who became Prime Minister. Armed with new data and new analytic tools, Michael Shin and John Agnew use recently developed methods of spatial analysis, to offer a compelling new argument about contextual re-creation and mutation. They reveal that regional politics and shifting geographical voting patterns were far more important to Berlusconi's successes than the widely-credited role of the mass media, and conclude that Berlusconi's success (and later defeat) can be best understood in geographic terms. Since 1994, Italian politics has been dominated by the larger-than-life figure of Silvio Berlusconi. Presenting discussion of personalities, parties, and policies with geographical analyses, this book provides insight into Berlusconi's career. It provides an account of how Italy's richest man came to be its political leader. Introduction: Berlusconi's Italy -- The Geography Of The New Bipolarity, 1994-2006 -- Party Replacement, Italian Style -- The Geographical Secret To Berlusconi's Success -- What Went Up Later Came Down -- Conclusion. Michael E. Shin And John A. Agnew. Includes Bibliographical References (p. [149]-163) And Index. This book examines Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi's career and shows how Italy's richest man came to be its political leader. It emphasizes the significance of changes in regional politics and shifting geographical voting behaviors that led to the rise-and eventual fall-of Berlusconi Emphasizes the influence of regional demographics over the cult of Berlusconi's personality