Italy's tragic future

Silvio Berlusconi is a modern dictator. He controls all the most important functions of the state and is THE key player in the private sphere. Modern dictators are characterized by an ability to disguise their authoritarianism through subtle strategies of marketing and communication. Mr B is unusually suited for this role. Since 1994 he poisoned Italian political life, after having wrecked the italian cultural environment with its commercial televisions. Its legacy, unfortunately, will be massive both culturally and politically. But not in a positive sense.

Thankfully, in the last six months or so the international community begun to realize how deeply corrupt and unacceptable Mr B is. But one should not focus on one single aspect of his public or private life. His holistic philosophy of power and his (lack of) vision for Italy make him a very dangerous client. First of all his philosophy is a new enhanced form of demagogy. Everything is geared to please the crowds and to enhance the god of Audience, interrogated through polls.

His philosophy of action is pragmatic in the worse sense. It is always geared to increase wealth in the private sphere and increase power in the public sphere. Now, I am sure that some may see the former as a good thing. But power for the sake of power is certainly not desirable. The reason why power for power is bad is that it does not follow any coherent design on how to improve on Italian welfare. Pragmatism in Mr B's sense is highly volatile follows the fads and moods of the population far too closely. In the short run, its pay-offs are clear in terms of electoral results and popularity. But the country suffers, and suffers greatly.

Italy's constantly on the brink of a nerve crisis. More of Mr. B will only exacerbate this situation.

The problem is that at the moment Mr B succesfully wiped away any form of political opposition and there are no signs of renaissance on the left. When Mr B will disappear, he may take with him what's left of Italy.