Geopolitical Framework

Mussolini and the World Wars

After WWI left Italy a wreck, people were looking for a way to make Italy strong again. A wave of nationalism swept throughout the country and people were gathering together forming local nationalist groups. On March 23,1919 Benito Mussolini assembled these groups into a single national organization under his leadership. Mussolini called this group Fasci di Combattimento, also known as The Fascist Party. From 1922 to 1943, Benito Mussolini ruled over Italy. Mussolini was an influence and close ally to Adolf Hitler. Out of all the countries in Europe, Germany was the only country that supported Mussolini's attack on Ethiopia. Hitler admired Mussolini. In 1938, Italy passed the Manifesto of Race, which stripped Jews in Italy of their Italian citizenship. On May 22, 1939 Mussolini entered into the "Pact of Steel" with Hitler, which tied the two countries in the event of a war. On September 1, 1939, Germany invaded Poland, which started the Second World War. During WWII, it was obvious to Mussolini that he was not an equal partner with Hitler and he did not like that. After Mussolini made several poor decisions during WWII, and when Russia and allied forces started bombing Rome, the Italian Fascist council turned against Mussolini in the summer of 1943.

Politics of Present Day Italy

Current President of Italy: Giorgio Napolitano

Italy has been a unitary parliamentary republic since June 2, 1946. The current president of the Italian Republic is Giorgio Napolitano. The parliament is bicameral: the two houses, the Chamber of Deputies, and the Senate of the Republic, have the same powers. The prime minister, officially President of the Council of Ministers, is Italy's head of government. Italy's four major political parties are the People of Freedom, the Democratic Party, the Northern League, and the Union of Christian and Centre Democrats.



Italy is subdivided into 20 regions, five of these regions have a special autonomous status that enable them to enact legislation on some of their local matters. The country is further divided into 110 provinces and 8,100 municipalities.