Abstract
Prato analyses the legitimacy of political representation and processes of political change in Italy and Albania. Her ethnographically detailed discussion shows how the mediatory role of political parties may corrupt the democratic system. Key elements in Prato’s analysis are the rulers’ ethics of responsibility, different forms of opposition to party rule, conflicting sources of legitimacy and processes of legitimation in contemporary democracy. The author draws on a comparative study of two European case studies to ask to what extent legitimacy is linked to public accountability and trust beyond the strictly legal dimension; she argues that accountability in the political field cannot be separated from integrity, intended as a system of values that carries significant expectations of people’s behaviour.
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Notes
- 1.
- 2.
The application of technical ‘objectivity’ as opposed to the ‘wisdom of the ruler’ is an old dilemma tackled by ancient philosophers, such as Aristotle (1996: V and X), according to whom in the exercise of democratic government, the most ‘excellent’ man should rule.
- 3.
Most Italian traditional parties were dissolved during the tangentopoli (bribesville) scandals. Some changed their names. Throughout the years, new parties, or political coalitions, have been formed and dissolved, changing names at each passage. I indicate the new names and the composition of the various coalitions at the appropriate place in the chapter.
- 4.
The judicial enquires involved the mayor (a Christian Democrat) and several assessori (including a Republican and a Communist), who were accused of abuse of office. At the time, assessori were chosen among the elected councillors to be appointed to lead specific departments in the City Council executive.
- 5.
- 6.
Before the 1993 electoral reform, the mayor was appointed by the elected councillors and was usually an elected member of the City Council.
- 7.
The Partito Democratico della Sinistra/Democratic Party of the Left (PDS) and the tiny Right-wing Movimento Sociale Italiano/Italian Social Movement (MSI) were left standing.
- 8.
On the impact of legislative changes, see also n. 5.
- 9.
Orlando, a former Christian Democrat, had been a popular mayor of Palermo. The Democratic Alliance mostly included former Christian Democrats.
- 10.
PSI was one of the casualties of tangentopoli.
- 11.
Several ex-Christian Democrats and Socialists who belonged to the faction of the former Socialist Prime Minister Craxi had joined Forza Italia.
- 12.
For the 2016 election, there were 22 registered electoral lists, for a total of 698 candidates for the 32 city councillor seats. Following the post-1993 electoral rules, the lists had also to register the electoral coalitions supporting the 6 mayor candidates.
- 13.
Law 142/1990, Art. 8, comma 2 states that municipalities must ‘urgently’ regulate the relationship between Difensore Civico and the City Council. This urgent need is reiterated in the Law n.81 of 25 March 1993, which indicates that municipalities with more than 15,000 inhabitants must elect a president of the City Council who will be the direct contact of the Difensore Civico. For smaller municipalities, the point of reference would be instead the group leaders of the political coalitions elected to the Town Council.
- 14.
This decree stipulates that the Difensore Civico should be established only in municipalities with more than 50,000 inhabitants; smaller municipalities would have to refer to the provincial office.
- 15.
Regional, Provincial and City Council Ombudsmen are elected by councillors through secret ballot, and a two-third majority is needed (see, e.g., Brindisi Statutes, Titolo III, Capo VII, Art.86, Comma 1).
- 16.
Between February and August 1991, 45,000 Albanians arrived in Brindisi seeking asylum. New arrivals continued in the following years. By December 1996, there were 63,976 Albanians officially registered in Italy. A new numerically significant wave was registered in 1997; following the collapse of the Pyramid schemes, about 9000 Albanians arrived in Italy between March and April that year.
- 17.
One of the founding leaders was Sali Berisha, who had been Secretary of the Committee of the Party of Labour (Partia e Punsës) and Enver Hoxha’s personal doctor. In the early 1990s, he embraced the anti-Communist approach that was spreading across Albania.
- 18.
Cases of malpractice and bribery have been reported among several legal professions and in public institutions such as the magistracy, customs, hospitals and those appointed to supervise the privatization of state assets and the restitution of property (Paterna 2000).
- 19.
According to an article published in the newspaper Corriere della Sera, several other Italian shows have been ‘cloned’ by Albanian TV channels (https://www.corriere.it/spettacoli/13_dicembre_08/tv-italiana-clonata-albania-23dac8c2-5fdc-11e3-a69c-5b474ab780a8.shtml).
- 20.
Striscia la Notizia was first broadcast in 1988. ‘Striscia’ has a polysemic meaning; in this case, as a noun it means ‘strip’ (like in cartoon strip), and as a verb (‘strisciare’), it means to crawl or to slither, like a snake or a worm that slithers underground digging holes. The show’s name is meant to signify precisely underneath digging in order to expose ‘cheats’. The emblem is a crawling snake. Interestingly, a (coiling) snake is the original symbol of Berlsusconi’s Mediaset group.
- 21.
The European Commission expressed public concern through the spokesperson of the Commissioner for the Union Enlargement. The fight against corruption was in fact one of the 12 points Albania had to fulfil in order to gain EU access status (Prato 2011). On international media coverage, see, for example: https://www.albanianews.it/notizie/albania/politica/1599-video-meta.
- 22.
Prime Minister at the time was Sali Berisha. The Lëvizja Socialiste e Integrimit/Socialist Movement for Integration (LSI) had joined a coalition with the Democrats also previously, in 2003.
- 23.
Edi Rama was the mayor of Tirana between 2000 and 2011. He is internationally known for his ‘artistic’ approach to the urban renaissance of Tirana. For details, see Prato (2017b).
- 24.
Bledar’s child was referring to a film produced in 1994 titled Lamerica, where Albanians look at Western Europe in the same way as early twentieth-century migrants had looked at the USA (popularly called America). See Prato (2004: 76–77).
- 25.
- 26.
See Tirana Times, June 7, 2017. Available at: http://www.tiranatimes.com/?p=132748
- 27.
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Prato, G.B. (2019). On the Legitimacy of Democratic Representation: Two Case Studies from Europe. In: Pardo, I., Prato, G.B. (eds) Legitimacy. Palgrave Studies in Urban Anthropology. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-96238-2_2
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