The strongest factor that explains the weakness of the Liberal State was political instability. Despite the government being named as ‘Liberal’, in reality suffrage was extremely limited with only 2 percent of the population initially being able to vote. While this would have technically not presented a major problem for the government, it explains the reasons why politicians turned to the concept of Transformismo, thus exposing the instability in the Italian government; even successful politicians such as Giolitti were forced to r ely on bribery in order to gain a position in office, clearly showing that the Liberal State’s key weakness was in fact the political turmoil that it was often embroiled in. Notably, the government was also prone to change, in one case during 1870-1914 where 23 different governments in office. Much of these governments were often dominated by the social elite; politicians relying on Transformismo to gain power often resulted to bribing people who could exercise control within their communities, and this showed one weakness of the Liberal Government to be its failure to deal with the rising discontent of the working class, the commoner of Italy. Another political failure that explains the weakness of government was the failure to come to an agreement with the Papacy, who influenced the large majority of the population. The formation of the Liberal State was rejected by Pope Pius IX, and Catholics were ordered not to participate in national elections, contributing to the divide between the ruling elite and the normal commoner who were unable to relate to the government, often choosing instead to follow Papal orders. Clearly this factor explains much more of the reasons to the Liberal State’s failure, as it exposes how the large majority of the Italian population were either unable to participate in government and be represented, or for the Liberal State to be completely ignored such as in the case of Papal intervention.
Another important explanation for the failures in the Italian state was the threat of extremism. The Liberal government were frequently forced to introduce reforms such as limiting working hours and child labour in order to pacify supporters of more radical political parties such as the PSI, yet attempt to remain at a balance by introducing nationalistic education to appease the nationalists who yearned for a stronger Italian identity. From this, it is possible to see how extremism was in fact able to control much of the Liberal State’s policies; policies were no longer being made just to improve the lives of Italian’s, but also in a constant back and forth attempt to curb political extremism. Another weakness this explains is the fact that political extremists could not be controlled by the Liberal State, and clearly due to the Liberal State allowing extremist views it rose to a point where those views could no longer be controlled, and the government bore the brunt of civil discontent. The year 1921 saw extremism push the Liberal State to its weakest point; even the agrarian elite, industry owners and the petty bourgeoisie who benefited from the Liberal State’s policies shifted towards more nationalistic ideals, and this shows how extremism very much worsened the problems the State already faced, and also explains the eventual crumble of the Liberal State as even the initial supporters would recede their support. While this factor explains much of the weaknesses in the Liberal State, arguably political instability is more important to a larger extent due to the fact that politics governed the State, and the failure in politics was what allowed and fuelled extremism as well as enlarging the North-South divide.
A lesser factor linked to the rise in extremism that explains the failures of the Liberal State was foreign policy. Under the Liberal State, many politicians pushed for a more assertive foreign policy, appeasing the inferiority complex of the Liberal State due to previous historical defeats, especially in Abyssinia. The push towards aggression demonstrated how the Liberal State was prone to chance in policies, and was often at the influence of the elite as well as extremists. One key example was Giolitti’s decision to invade Libya in an attempt to pacify nationalistic views. In stark contrast with France’s successful occupation of Tunis and Britain’s occupation of Egypt, Italy successfully took control of Libya, albeit with huge losses and long lasting tension, showing the extent to which the Liberal State lacked power, especially when compared to other prominent European powers. Another case was the decision to join WWI, the result of which showed the failure of the Liberal State in asserting its claims to land. Under the Treaty of London, Italy was liable to gain lands which it did not in fact gain when the war ended, leading to the war being labelled a ‘mutilated victory’ by many Italians, particularly political extremists. This failure exposed another weakness in the Liberal State in the inherent inability to negotiate successfully on international tables, and was a trigger for the rising extremists that would take over the Italian state. While this ultimately was one of the triggers to the Liberal State’s downfall, underlying issues such as the inherent political instability can explain why foreign policy resulted in a failure, and also the reasons that extremism emerged within the Italian population. Therefore, foreign policy only contributes to a limited extent in explaining the failures of the Liberal State.
Overall, it is possible to see that the most important factor and the factor that explained the failures to the largest extent was indeed ultimately political instability. Political instability as an underlying cause for failure provided a breeding ground for extremism to emerge, which only worsened the already existing problems faced by the Liberal State; the successive governments were constantly forced to pacify the demands of individuals on an entirely different end of the political spectrum which could only end in failure. This failure would later contribute to the assertive foreign policy which ironically showed the unassertiveness of the Liberal State when it came to international negotiations, and therefore clearly while the North-South divide does explain some of the failures of the Liberal State in governing Italy and improving general living conditions, ultimately all other factors were as a result of a general failure in politics: political instability.
by
fangricky1gmailcom (student)
