ABSTRACT

This chapter focuses on the party that has dominated Italian political life, the Christian Democratic party, from whose ranks all prime ministers were recruited during this period as well as most of the cabinet ministers and under secretaries of state. It focuses on the first appointment as under secretary of state or as full minister. But the selection process continues for reappointments. For many politicians, the first appointment is also the last one. The aspirant to a ministerial position is a deputy or a senator. In effect, one can count only a handful of ministers who did not have a parliamentary mandate at the moment of their appointment. Military men were excluded from political positions. They were not permitted to be candidates at legislative elections without having previously resigned from the army. In the young republic the political class manifested a kind of mistrust toward generals. The principle of regional representation is respected in various countries: Germany, Belgium, and others.