Magistratura e politica: il caso italiano
Politics and the Judiciary: The Italian Case

by Carlo Guarnieri

The institutional setting of the Italian Judiciary has been, in the last 45 years, radically altered. Today, in comparison with the patterns prevailing in the other democratic regimes, it exhibits two distinguishing features: 1) an higher degree of independence from the political environment; and 2) prosecuting and judging activities entrusted to the same corps of independent magistrates. Among the reasons behind these peculiar developments the paper singles out the legacy of the authoritarian past, leading to a widespread distrust for the executive and to continuous attempts at strengthening formal legal guarantees, and the evolution of the political process. Indeed, the lack of expectation of alternance in government, coupled with the growing influence of the opposition parties on the legislative process, have heavily contributed to the establishment of a judicial setting in some respect «unique» among democratic regimes.

Paradoxically, the very success of the efforts at guaranteeing the independent status of our judiciary has been followed by growing fragmentation inside the corps and increasing contacts between magistrates -- judges and public prosecutors -- and the political environment. It is argued that these developments have been promoted, on one hand, by the high political significance of the judiciary, that pushes political groups to try to influence in some way its actions, and, on the other, by the still strong bureaucratic nature of the judicial organization with its negative impact on the development of professional values. The result of this process is that the Italian judiciary, even though relatively powerful, tends to be strongly influenced by the evolution of the political system.

Austerità conservatrice e rigore socialista: che differenza ? I
Austerity vs. Riguer: Does it Make a Difference? I

by Adriano Pappalardo

The research focuses on the economic policies of two Socialist (French, Spanish) and two Conservative (British, WestGerman) governments. During the '80s, these countries applied «monetarist» austerity policies. After a summary review of the main prescriptions of this crisis-management doctrine, the author develops an indepth data analysis, focusing on wages and income trends, on fiscal, budgetary and monetary policy, and on comparative outcomes in terms of investments, growth and unemployment. The key result is that Socialist governments have pursued the same anti-inflationary priorities as their Conservative counterparts, adopted essentially the same macroeconomics tools, and added considerably effective incomes policies. Consequently, workers' incomes have been more squeezed than by the Thatcher or Kohl governments, fiscal and/or budgetary restraint have been often stronger, and monetary rigor has reached a highpoint in France, compared to the more pragmatic course of the U.K. On the other hand, both the Ps and the Psoe have largely relinquished, or postponed, goals like full employment, growth, and distributive equity, that were prominent in their programs of the early '80s. This has led to a growing literature on the crisis of Southern European Socialism and the reasons that might explain it. A reassessment of the whole topic on the background of the empirical evidence collected by the author will be presented as Part II of the research in the next number of this Journal.

La scienza politica italiana: tradizione e realtà
Past and Present in Italian Political Science

by Leonardo Morlino

The first section of the essay reviews the main "confining conditions" which postponed the development of Italian political science at the end of the Forties and the Fifties. These are: a widespread, «ancillary» vision of politics, an ideological mentality, the opposition of better established other disciplines.

The role played by Leoni, Bobbio and Sartori during this phase is a basic one. But Bobbio and Sartori are also very important in the following phase, that of «take-off», when the differences with the other disciplines, such as political philosophy, history, law, are clearly drawn. During the Sixties the empirical research begins; and in this matter the influence of American political science and the financial support of American foundations is very important.

In the early Seventies the third phase takes place. During this decade the growth of the discipline is basically accounted for the deep transformation of Italian university in a mass university, and thus there is an enourmous growth of university positions in every field, political science included.

The last section of the essay analyses the content of the discipline and its changes on the ground of bibliographical file of all published material in the field. For this purpose the discipline has been divided in thirteen subsectors and books, essays and articles printed during about last fortyfive years in Italy and on Italy are considered.

La guerra: problemi di metodo e definizione
The War: Problems of Method and Definition

by Fabio Armao

The essay debates the possibilities of a comparative analysis of wars and the related problems of method.

First of all, it assumes that, more than practical or ideal justifications, the scientific study of war needs theoretical vindication: it is far from being accepted, indeed, that war, more than a simple fact, is a really discriminant concept within a general theory of international relations.

Secondly, it analyses the methodological criteria relevant to both the relation between theory and practice and the logic of comparison, and identifies the different phases of the plan of a research on wars.

Finally, it proposes an explanatory model of wars, which resembles a tree structure and is able to collect almost every kind of data are believed remarkable in different historical and geographical contexts.