Italy’s opposition has wounded Silvio Berlusconi. But it is still far from removing the prime minister - and even further from healing Italian democracy. Here, the case of Dominique Strauss-Kahn offers important lessons, says Geoff Andrews.
An Italian vote on nuclear energy on June 12 could well have had a disastrous impact on the whole of Europe. Berlusconi and the Italian media were hoping that no-one had noticed, but they had. (This article was first published on 2 June 2011 and updated on 14 June 2011)
The Berlusconi era may be nearing its end, but media populism remains a danger across Europe and requires new political forms of organisation to combat it
Berlusconi candidates lost the run-offs in a whole slew of Italian cities on Sunday. Voters are not just angry; they are also voting against the populists of all stripes and for real democratic control
Local elections in Italy mark a defeat of Berlusconi's administration, and nowhere more so than in the moral capital of Italy.
Right-wing populist parties tend to be anti-multinational and anti-intellectual: they endorse nationalistic, nativist, and chauvinistic beliefs, embedded - explicitly or coded - in common sense appeals to a presupposed shared knowledge of ‘the people’.
Does Europe offer a model for a solution to xenophobia, or is it a major part of the problem; or is it just in a much more confused place altogether?
The meeting in Rome of the Contact Group for Libya will expose the unreliability of Italy’s foreign policy
Human rights are undermined in the war on terror by the widespread use of blacklists.
Italy’s official celebration of its founding moment finds the country in a dark mood and a long way from home. Geoff Andrews marks the moment and looks for signs of hope.
Putin and Berlusconi constructed their careers based on an idea of virility at a time when the concept seemed to many to be outdated. Augusto Come investigates the strategies both have employed, and finds a striking association with images from the fascist past.
Italy has been raising a generation of women to think that mini-skirts, tank tops and swimsuits, and a chance to shake their bottoms on national TV, are the key to success.
