The First Year of Berlusconi's Fourth Government: Formation, Characteristics and Activities

The analysis presented here focuses on the first twelve months of the fourth Berlusconi government, and represents a summary of the results of the investigation carried out by the Centre for the Study of Political Change (Centro di Ricerca sul Cambiamento Politico, CIRCaP), which are described in more detail in the latest of its annual reports on the activity of the Italian government. In the present work, we will examine the formation, composition and structure of the Government; its programme; its legislative activity; the results of this activity and the interaction between Government and opposition in Parliament; the popularity of the Government and its leader. Repeating this exercise in subsequent phases of the executive's mandate will, we believe, allow us to offer a more comprehensive evaluation of it and to compare it with the performance of governments of the last 15 years.