ABSTRACT
Berlusconi believed that despite the collapse of international communism, the Italian ex-Communists still embraced their antidemocratic ideals and threatened his interests. Since the polls put them on track to win the next elections, he entered politics and created a new political party modeled on his soccer club network. The League roiled Italian politics, and representatives of the armed forces indicated they might intervene if the League was on the winning side in the next elections and were given important posts in the cabinet. There was another big surprise: the success of the neo-Fascist Movimento Sociale Italiano. Berlusconi's difficulties gave new hope to the Center-Left, which reorganized itself under an umbrella group, the Ulivo (Olive Tree); led by the former Christian Democrat Romano Prodi, the Ulivo's major organizational support was in the PDS. Berlusconi's negative image proved particularly ironic in light of the Center-Right's policy of bolstering Italy's prestige and conducting a foreign policy more in line with its economic importance.
