SAIS professor John Harper has an interesting thought experiment. Imagine if the President of the United States ran his country like a certain major European country… At the very least, it proves the the US public’s tolerance for corruption is a lot lower than in parts of Europe.
[Sun, Mar 17 2002 – 15:32] Felix (www) (email) The Big Idea here, if I’m not mistaken, is that Silvio Berlusconi is a crook who is using his immense power to ensure that he is above the law. Well, yes, but that was true even when he wasn’t president. Certainly Italy is much more corrupt than any northern European country (paying off tax inspectors was considered a standard annual expense by most middle-class-and-up Italians up until very recently) although it has been getting better. Berlusconi does represent a throwback to the Bad Old Days. But this whole saga says more about Berlusconi than it does about Italy, and more about Italy than it does about Europe.
[Sat, Mar 23 2002 – 17:40] Ayse (email) I liked this article a lot. It was a summary of revolting things I had read before. Somehow, though, reading it again tonight made me feel better (or not sooo bad) about certain things I heard tonight. How certain business is run in Turkey… Must be a disease in this part of the world. I just don’t get it.
[Wed, Apr 10 2002 – 02:32] Markus (email) Berlusconi was elected prime minister with clear majorities in 1994 and in 2001. The 2001 majority is, as the story tells “overwhelming”. Most of the facts reported in the story were known or foreseeable before the 1994 election. The corruption facts became apparent immediately thereafter. Everything was known or foreseeable, accepted, respected and admired (by most) well before the 2001 election. This stuff was implicitly or explicitly in Forza Italia’s 1994, 1996 and 2001 election manifestos. The Economist’s article declaring Berlusconi “unfit” came out
one week before the 2001 elections, for the previous seven years the Economist’s articles on Italy were a continuos criticism of the centre-left governments, often winking at the right-wing opposition. Sadly, but realistically, now it is high time for the majority of Italians to enjoy
the government and the prime minister they have so tenaciously and willingly sought. Barring human rights violations, nuclear proliferation or the invasion of France (to get the communists), I question it is time now for foreign countries or foreign newspapers to show their concern. That could have been done, much more effectively, seven years ago.