In the ongoing aftermath of the financial crisis, and following on from an indecisive election, the last thing Italy needed was a political scandal. Enter Senator Silvio Berlusconi.
Senator Berlusconi's conviction for tax fraud has turned into a major political story (Davies, 2013), not only due to his own decrying of the Italian courts with the possibly unfortunate word 'uncontrollable' (Davies, 2013). Concern rests also with the potential ramifications for Enrico Letta's governing grand coalition should Senator Berlusconi's conviction lead to his being expelled from the Italian Senate by a vote of his peers (The Guardian, 2013).
The threat of political instability caused by the conviction of one individual - even a very wealthy, influential and powerful individual - is troubling.
The threatened instability is caused by a conflict of interest created by the fairly unusual set of conditions. As a result of his conviction, the Italian Senate must vote whether to expel Berlusconi. However, he is the leader of the second biggest party represented in the Italian legislature, the conservative Il Popolo della Liberta (PdL), and that party is at present part of the governing coalition. Their coalition partners are their main political opposition, the social democratic Partito Democratico (PD).
The vote to expel Berlusconi could destroy that tentative alliance (The Guardian, 2013). The PdL may well abandon the partnership in protest of the result should their leader be expelled - particularly as that result could only be achieved with a significant number of votes from their rivals and partners the PD. However a failure to expel Berlusconi might spark a similar reaction amongst the PD members who may not tolerate such a concession. While attempts have been made to stymie such a vote (BBC, 2013), attempts to stall it at the committee stage failed and the vote will go ahead in the coming weeks.
Yet, despite the concerns presented by this more immediate situation and the instability it could create in a country with many outstanding issues that are already in need of resolution, there is a bigger worry. The actions of one individual have been allowed to put in jeopardy the functioning of the government of an entire nation.
The attraction of personality, of basing leadership on the qualities of singular individuals, is in the opportunity to borrow on the strength and power marshalled by that individual. But that attraction is a trap. The problem with what Max Weber (1994) called charismatic leadership is its inherent instability (Hughes et al, 2003).
Despite the determination of many organisations to take advantage of the short term boosts to things like popularity or authority provided by this personality and charisma, they buy those boosts at the cost of stability. Basing an organisation on the qualities of an individual means not just rising with them, but also falling too when their individual popularity wanes. The failures of that person reflect upon the organisation as a whole and creates the beginnings of a conflict of interest. When corruption, revelations or failures threaten those powerful individuals, the larger system is also threatened by the loss of, or damage to the reputation of, one of its senior members, and it is forced to close ranks around them to protect itself.
The true test of progress in Italian politics will be how the country's institutions weather this storm. Surviving the fall of one powerful figure is a true test of the validity of any free, constitutional and democratic process.
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References:
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+ Lizzy Davies' 'Italian president says Berlusconi's conviction must be respected'; in The Guardian; 14 August 2013.
+ Lizzy Davies' 'Berlusconi rails against "uncontrollable" judiciary after criminal conviction upheld'; in The Guardian; 2 August 2013.
+ The Guardian's 'Silvio Berlusconi: supping with the devil'; 2 August 2013.
+ BBC's 'Silvio Berlusconi step closer to expulsion from Italy Senate'; 19 September 2013.
+ Max Weber's 'Basic Concepts in Sociology'; Chp 4, Pt 4: Bases of Legitimate Order; Citadel 1994. [Buy Now
]+ John A Hughes, Peter J Martin & Wes W Sharrock's 'Understanding Classical Sociology: Marx - Weber - Durkheim'; Chapter 3: Max Weber; Power and Forms of Domination, Pg 112; Sage, 2003. [Buy Now
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