Stefano Fella and Carlo Ruzza examine why the increasingly controversial Italian leader remains so popular in his country
Since his wife filed for divorce in May, accusing of him of “consorting with minors” and being in need of medical help (after reports that he had turned up at the 18th birthday party of a young lady – the nature of his relationship with whom is rather unclear), the revelations about Silvio Berlusconi’s private life have snowballed.
One woman, Patrizia D’Addario, alleged she was paid to attend a party at his holiday residence. She later claimed to have had sex with him, backing up her allegations with recordings of conversations she had with the Prime Minister and media mogul. These covered a variety of topics including his sexual performance, advice from Berlusconi on how to keep herself satisfied sexually and promises of support for planning permission for a stalled construction project.
The allegations from D’Addario accompany broader revelations about a lifestyle of lavish parties held by Berlusconi in several of his luxurious residences, along with the publication of explicit photos that have embarrassed a former Czech prime minister, among others.
All this is against a
background
in which Berlusconi presents himself as a strong ally of the Roman Catholic Church and a defender of law and morality. The government that Berlusconi leads was in the process of initiating legislation to punish prostitutes’ clients.
Despite the embarrassing headlines, Berlusconi remains popular in Italy. Like his many gaffes – such as complimenting Barack Obama on his suntan and comparing a German socialist MEP to a Nazi concentration camp guard – the headlines may even help to reinforce his populist “outsider” status as a man of the people with a mischievous twinkle in his eye who refuses to bow to the stuffy protocols of the political establishment.
While Berlusconi’s popularity rating does not appear to have suffered much in the light of recent events, he may be concerned about a possible withdrawal of support or distancing on the part of the Catholic Church. His party and coalition allies, on the other hand, have rallied around in strong support, expressing disgust at the publications giving coverage to D’Addario and her assertions.
Berlusconi’s conflicts of interest are also highly relevant here. He is Italy’s richest man and owns the country’s three main private television stations, as well as a leading daily newspaper and other publishing outlets. This combines with his government’s control over the main state broadcasting channels. Neither the public RAI TV channels nor Berlusconi’s own Mediaset channels have covered the D’Addario revelations. Most Italians get their current affairs news from TV, while newspaper readership is low.
Of course, it is the non-Berlusconi-owned press – particularly the centre-left daily La Repubblica and weekly L’Espresso – which have led on this story. The news will have still reached most Italians through word of mouth, the internet or by glancing at the headlines at newsstands. Many, though, will have simply smirked or shrugged their shoulders. For some, that a 72-year-old man can apparently still display such sexual prowess will be a source of admiration (D’Addario described being kept up all night by Berlusconi). For others, it will simply be a private matter and not relevant to Berlusconi’s ability to lead Italy.
Berlusconi’s continuous refrain for the past years has been that there is a left-liberal plot against him. This is being conducted through the media (the parts which he does not own or control) and the judiciary. His claims have had a considerable impact. His supporters have not taken seriously many of the legal investigations into his business affairs. Berlusconi has faced several investigations into his commercial activities, with accusations of tax fraud and bribery. However, he has evaded prosecution through changes in the law passed by his own governments.
Marcello Dell’Utri, his right-hand man, has been found guilty of Mafia association. In recent months, British lawyer David Mills, the estranged husband of Cabinet minister Tessa Jowell, was found guilty of taking bribes – presumably from Berlusconi.
The D’Addario affair has led to investigations being launched into payments made by another Berlusconi associate, Giampaolo Tarantini, to women in return for their attendance at parties held at Berlusconi’s holiday residence. The Prime Minister may also face investigation into the claims he apparently made on the D’Addario tapes that Phoenician tombs had been found on his estate in Sardinia. Under Italian law, such finds must be reported within 24 hours.
The allegations of conspiracy, the appeals to the traditional macho instincts and sexual hypocrisy of an essentially conservative Catholic nation, along with his ownership and control of much of the media, help to explain the continuing appeal of Berlusconi despite the gaffes, sexual indiscretions and allegations of corruption.
Berlusconi’s political success – he has won four general elections in Italy and continues to enjoy approval ratings that are the envy of many of his fellow European leaders – is more broadly explained by the resources (both media and political) that he has at his disposal and his ability to interpret and encapsulate the anti-political zeitgeist prevalent in Italy since the 1990s. He has skilfully stitched together a coalition that appeals to the conservative yet consumerist and individualistic values of a large swathe of the Italian electorate.
Berlusconi has based his appeal around a platform of anti-political populism. This is all the more remarkable, given the numerous investigations into his alleged corruption and abuses of power, and the record of his governments in passing a number of laws to protect his media and business interests, hamper investigations into his affairs and grant him immunity from prosecution.
Berlusconi’s spectacular initial success in forming a party from scratch and winning a general election in 1994 came on the back of the tangentopoli corruption scandal that implicated the parties which had governed Italy since the Second World War. Around a third of parliamentarians were placed under formal investigation for corruption.
Berlusconi has played up his credentials as a political outsider, speaking the language of the common people and purporting to represent their interests against a self-serving political elite. A conservative Italian populace that was sick of the complacent, stuffy and corrupt Italian political establishment quickly fell for his charms. Berlusconi’s success as an entrepreneur – a figure that the Italian people can look up to – is used to his advantage.
Like all populists, he sees himself as speaking directly to and on behalf of the people – and is thus rather impatient towards the norms of liberal constitutional democracy, such as an independent judiciary and parliamentary scrutiny. He recently described parliamentarians as useless. His populism is also reflected in the way he demonises his political opponents – denouncing the left as dangerous communists, despite the mild social democratic policies espoused by the centre-left.
Although Berlusconi initially benefited from the judicial investigations that brought down the post-war political establishment, when the judges turned their attention to him he turned against them – depicting them as part of a left-wing conspiracy, as “mad” and in need of psychiatric help.
His success has also been dependent on stitching together a coalition based on forces that would be deemed as political outcasts anywhere else in Western Europe. Since entering politics at the head of his own political party, Forza Italia, in 1994, Berlusconi’s principal allies have been the National Alliance, which emerged out of Italy’s post-war neo-fascist movement, and the Northern League, a regionalist populist party which has at times advocated the break-up of Italy and whose leaders employ the xenophobic and Islamophobic discourse of the European far right. On top of these alliances, Berlusconi has also brought a number of smaller groupings into his coalition, including one led by Alessandra Mussolini (Il Duce’s granddaughter). She remains unrepentant about Italy’s fascist past.
Some of the most disturbing discourse has emanated from Berlusconi’s fellow populists in the Northern League. Its leader, Umberto Bossi, has suggested cannon be fired at ships bringing migrants to Italy’s shores. Another leading figure, Roberto Calderoli, was forced to resign from government in 2006 (before returning in 2008), following his inflammatory gesture in wearing a T-shirt on a TV show depicting the controversial cartoon images of the prophet Mohammed published in a Danish newspaper that had sparked virulent protests in the Muslim world. Calderoli has also endorsed activities such as the grazing of pigs on land designated for the construction of mosques. This is in order to desecrate the land in the eyes of Muslims, who are generally presented as potential terrorists, as well as hostile to the Italian Catholic identity.
Crucially, Berlusconi’s coalition has been able to capitalise on the failure of the centre-left to provide a convincing or united alternative. The main centre-left force, the former Italian Communist Party, appeared to have a bright future following the end of the Cold War and the dropping of its Marxist identity which allowed it to present itself as a legitimate constitutional party at the beginning of the 1990s. However, Berlusconi stepped into the void resulting from the collapse in 1993 of the Christian Democrats, previously in government continuously since 1947, in the wake of tangentopoli. His aim was to thwart the centre-left. Many commentators suggest that Berlusconi was also motivated by the desire to protect his media empire from interference. The old ruling parties had allowed him to secure dominance over Italy’s private TV output.
In its two periods in government, from 1996-2001 and 2006-2008, the centre-left opposition to Berlusconi was racked with division, as a variety of forces ranging from unreformed Communists on the radical left to rather conservative Christian democratic forces in the centre fought for influence These forces are united mainly by their opposition to Berlusconi and his allies. The merger of the ex-Communist Democratic Left with some of the old Christian Democrats was not enough to prevent another Berlusconi victory in 2008, following the collapse of Romano Prodi’s centre-left government.
Berlusconi’s coalition has managed to depict the centre-left as more concerned with protecting the employment rights and pension privileges of those already in work, rather than increasing employment opportunities for the large number of young people without a steady job. The right has also been able to capitalise on widespread fears relating to security and immigration – fears that its own discourse and media coverage (particularly from Berlusconi’s media outlets) helps to whip up and which are most colourfully conveyed by the Northern League.
The appeal of different parts of the coalition helps it to win support in different parts of the country. The National Alliance is strongest in the south, where it appeals to essentially conservative but state-dependent voters. It also benefits from a culture less in tune with the anti-fascist consensus of the north.
The Northern League, on the other hand, wins support in wealthy small towns in the north and exploits fears about the dilution of local identities, brought by immigration and the impact of the globalisation which undermines local prosperity. This was seen in its campaign against Chinese imports undercutting local production.
In sum, the right has been able to align itself with conservative tendencies within much of the electorate, particularly on issues such as tax, family values and immigration. At the same time, its appeal to anti-political sentiments continues to bear fruit, with populist signals and symbolic discourse resonating with these voters, even when not followed up by concrete policy action.
Another key factor in the success of the right – and Berlusconi in particular – is the way it feeds off a cultural model diffused throughout the media and especially Berlusconi’s TV channels, where a bland and conservative projection of Italian family life is injected with consumerist, aspirational and acquisitive values. It is notable that surveys show Berlusconi’s popularity is greatest among those sections of the Italian population who spend the most hours in front of their television sets.
Italy presents a salutary lesson for other European countries of what can happen when widespread public hostility to establishment politicians leads to a collapse in support for traditional parties and political outsiders are then able to garner support on the back of this anti-party sentiment. When this is combined with a surge in support of populist, nationalistic and illiberal responses to societal changes, then the dangers to conventional liberal democratic norms can be stark. This is particularly the case when the media is so obviously partisan and the person who embodies the populist anti-political zeitgeist owns much of the media and is so well-schooled in exploiting its potential.
Stefano Fella and Carlo Ruzza are the co-authors of Re-inventing the Italian Right – territorial politics, populism and post-fascism, published by Routledge
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