Berlusconi's Italy: Mapping Contemporary Italian Politics

by Michael E. Shin, John A. Agnew

Emphasizes the influence of regional demographics over the cult of Berlusconi's personality

Genres: Politics

184 pages, Paperback

First published March 28, 2008

Reviews

[Ryan]

Written by two geography professors, this book is written for defending the existence and importance of geographic study in politics. Its thesis probably comes most clear on page 125: "Italy's emerging bipolarity has owed much to Berlusconi, not because of his singularity as a media baron/politician, but because of his ability to put together a geographical 'followership' that would otherwise have remained fragmented by party and place." Which sounds to me like a an opaque way of saying that it is in fact Berlusconi, his personality and media control, has created the tone and currents of Italian politics since 1993.

Effectively, I think the book consistently defends its own antithesis.

There is, however, some interesting info and history on Italian politics. The study of geography is in fact interesting and helpful and if that had been the thrust of the book it would have hit an interesting mark. Instead, they threw the prime minister's name into the title to increase sales and ruined the very nature of their book by making it resemble more a half-baked high school paper than an academic work written by professors.