ABSTRACT
The splashy political debut of Silvio Berlusconi in 1994, however, was genuinely without precedent, and his ascendancy to the premiership raised several important questions which this essay will attempt to address. First, what was the make-up of the economic elite at the time of Berlusconi’s
daring move? And how well did Berlusconi fit, or not fit into the elite from whence he came? Next, how tainted by their relations with the discredited political class were some of Berlusconi’s top advisers, aides and ministers? And how legitimate were concerns about a possible conflict of interest between Berlusconi the Entrepreneur and Berlusconi the Prime Minister? Then, what is the nature of the economic elite at mid-decade, a mere five years away from the new millennium? And finally, somewhat speculatively, is Berlusconi most likely to be seen by historians of the future as a transition figure, born of and consumed by the tumultuous, non-violent ‘revolution’ of the early 1990s in Italy, or, rather, as a leader who was able to pilot the very same transition with a positive impact upon his troubled country?
