ABSTRACT
Following World War II, the major items of business for Italy were negotiating a peace treaty, rebuilding a political system, and reconstructing the economy. Despite notable legislative achievements, especially in the labor field, between 1964 and 1968 the Socialists no longer possessed the countervailing power they needed to convince their Center-Left allies to implement significant reforms and thus failed to renew the basis of Italian politics. Bettino Craxi chastised the Vatican for its interference in Italian affairs, attacked judges for their easy arrest propensities, successfully pushed for the sending of Italian warships to the Persian Gulf to protect the shipping lanes, and sponsored a series of victorious national referendums. The political basis for Craxi's deal was gone, and a major corruption scandal, which would deprive him of the office of premier and secretary and sweep away all the old parties, was on the horizon. With the Cold War over, the postwar politics of "imperfect bipolarism" ended.
