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Further General Reflections on Politics

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Vilfredo Pareto: An Intellectual Biography Volume II

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Abstract

Pareto continued to nurture his scientific interest in politics (On Pareto’s youthful politological ideas, Mornati (Vilfredo Pareto: An intellectual biography. Volume I. From science to liberty (1848–1891). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan, 2018, pp. 171–175)) which, on the basis of the fragmentary evidence so far available, was directed at topics of fundamental importance such as the need for political organisation (Sect. 12.1), the characteristics of governmental activity (Sect. 12.2), the sociology of politicians (Sect. 12.3) and of political parties (Sect. 12.4).

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Notes

  1. 1.

    On Pareto’s youthful politological ideas, Mornati (2018, pp. 171–175).

  2. 2.

    Pareto (1896–1897, §670) and also Pareto (1894a).

  3. 3.

    Pareto (1896–1897, §662).

  4. 4.

    Pareto (1894b, p. 160).

  5. 5.

    Pareto (1892a, p. 418).

  6. 6.

    Ibid., pp. 419–420.

  7. 7.

    Pareto (1894c, p. 749).

  8. 8.

    Pareto (1895, pp. 99–100).

  9. 9.

    Pareto (1894b, pp. 160–161).

  10. 10.

    Pareto (1893–1894, pp. 22–23).

  11. 11.

    Pareto to Pantaleoni, 6th and 22nd December 1891, see Pareto (1894b, pp. 98, 100, 122).

  12. 12.

    Pareto (1896–1897, §672).

  13. 13.

    Pareto to Pantaleoni, 6th and 22nd December 1891, see Pareto (1894b, p. 262).

  14. 14.

    Pareto (1893a, p. 167).

  15. 15.

    Pareto (1897, p. 238).

  16. 16.

    Ibid., p. 236.

  17. 17.

    Pareto (1894d, p. 4).

  18. 18.

    Ibid., pp. 5, 7.

  19. 19.

    Pareto (1893a, p. 171).

  20. 20.

    Ibid., pp. 171–172.

  21. 21.

    Pareto (1891, p. 2).

  22. 22.

    Pareto to Napoleone Colajanni, 27th April 1892, see Pareto (1975, p. 185).

  23. 23.

    Pareto (1893b, p. 181).

  24. 24.

    Ibid., p. 183.

  25. 25.

    Pareto (1892b, p. 50).

  26. 26.

    Pareto (1892c, p. 62).

  27. 27.

    Pareto (1892d, p. 65) pointed out that his predictions had been confirmed with Giolitti obtaining an “enormous majority”. However, the lack of political programmes meant that no “inference as to the political views that prevail around the country” could be drawn, ibid.

  28. 28.

    Pareto (1892c, p. 62).

  29. 29.

    Ibid. Immediately after the elections Pareto (1892d, p. 67) anticipated that Giolitti might be toppled by Crispi.

  30. 30.

    Pareto (1894e, p. 402).

  31. 31.

    Pareto (1893c, p. 105).

  32. 32.

    Pareto to Pantaleoni, 23rd January 1893, see Pareto (1984b, p. 337).

  33. 33.

    Pareto to Pantaleoni, 24th March 1893, ibid., p. 359.

  34. 34.

    Pareto (1893d, p. 677).

  35. 35.

    Ibid., p. 678.

  36. 36.

    Ibid., pp. 684–685.

  37. 37.

    Ibid., p. 685.

  38. 38.

    Ibid., p. 686. For example, shortly before this di Rudinihad borrowed both from Crispi’s programme (aiming at an ambitious foreign policy even at the cost of new taxes and debts) and from that of the opposition (Jacini and Cavallotti, who were disposed to accept a no-frills foreign policy precisely to avoid new taxes and debts), with the empty promise of funding the increases in military expenditure required for an expansionist foreign policy without increasing taxes and debts, ibid., p. 688.

  39. 39.

    Ibid., p. 689.

  40. 40.

    Cavallotti (1890) had demanded, in particular, “much less foreign policy and much more domestic policy for the remedying of economic ills and for social reforms”, and had proposed: the non-renewal of the Triple Alliance pact which was due to expire in 1892, ibid., p. 27; drastic reductions in military expenditure, with the possible gradual introduction of a citizens’ militia, ibid., pp. 30–47, making it possible to achieve the long-desired balanced budget, ibid., pp. 51–52; the reduction of the tax burden both through further cuts in public expenditure to be made possible by a simplification in government organisation, and through the introduction of a steeper gradient for the progressive element in taxes, ibid., pp. 54–60; the introduction, alongside the existing mechanisms “for safeguarding” capital, of equivalent measures for labour, with the regulation of working hours, the creation of regional trades union offices (Camere del lavoro), the application of existing legislation regulating working conditions for women and minors and for accident liability, the introduction of pension funds for old age and disability, ibid., pp. 70–71.

  41. 41.

    In his series of articles Jacini (1889) described an Italy weighed down by a grasping and incompetent public administration, a depressed economy, mainly due to the excessive fiscal burden, an alarming budget deficit, politicians out of touch with the population, serious friction with the Vatican, a colonial policy “swallowing human lives and large sums of money for nothing” and by a highly obscure military alliance which was incurring excessive military expenditure on Italy’s part, ibid., p. 217. Jacini attributed this situation, firstly, to a “pseudoparliamentary regime” where, in the context of a powerful French-style centralising tendency in public administration, members of parliament were subjected to strong lobbying pressures by their constituents, just as ministers were forced to bend to the pressures of the parliamentary majorities who had appointed them, ibid., pp. 219–220. The second factor was what he defined as the megalomania involved in pursuing an anti-French, Triple Alliance-inspired, colonialist and anti-Vatican foreign policy which was so ambitious as to be not only out of all proportion with the country’s resources, but also contrary to its real interests (in the sense that victory would simply bring a few border adjustments while defeat would probably entail a major crisis or even Italy’s disappearance as a unified state), ibid., pp. 417, 426–427. In his follow-up article Jacini (1891) declared that the solution to Italy’s political problems might be found in a national conservative party acting exclusively for the country’s long-term revival, ibid., pp. 671. Its programme would comprise a number of essential ‘planks’ such as an “unadventurous” foreign policy with the non-renewal of membership of the Triple Alliance, due to expire in 1892 (the resulting significant reduction in military expenditure would be the only way to achieve the drastic cuts in the burden of taxation which were needed to boost the economy), ibid., pp. 675, 686; a true decentralisation of the administration along regional lines, ibid., p. 677; a religious policy which, while respecting other religious persuasions, would take due account of the Catholic faith of the overwhelming majority of the Italian population and would seek to soothe conflicts with the Vatican, ibid., pp. 678–680.

  42. 42.

    Pareto (1893d, pp. 692–693).

  43. 43.

    Ibid., p. 693.

  44. 44.

    Ibid., p. 678.

  45. 45.

    Ibid., pp. 706–709.

  46. 46.

    Ibid., p. 710. In reference to the Italian causes, Pareto (1893d, p. 710) alluded to recent volume Turiello (1889) which he found useful for the study of the “peculiarities of the Italian character and their influence on the political life of the country” but wanting with regard to the “economic side of the question”.

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    Fiorenzo Mornati

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Mornati, F. (2018). Further General Reflections on Politics. In: Vilfredo Pareto: An Intellectual Biography Volume II. Palgrave Studies in the History of Economic Thought. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-04540-1_12

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