ELISABETTA CANITANO

Basso, Mortati e il problema dei partiti politici alla Costituente.

Due chiavi di lettura a confronto

N. 184

Summary — What is the role of political parties in "the construction" of the Italian democracy after the second world war? How could they become the most important instrument in the exercise of popular sovereignity?  Examining the development of the political parties in the " Postwar Era" and during the Resistence, we find that the mass based party played two different roles simultaneously: on an institutional level and on a social level. In 1946 (‘47), during the debates of the Constitutional Assembly, the " double face" of the modern political party clearly appeared, especially in Lelio Basso’s motion on the constitutional regulation of the parties, which was mainly an attempt to stress their institutional function. After that, at the end of the debate on art. 49, Costantino Mortati proposed introducing in the Constitution the principle of control on party internal democracy, suggesting that the Constitutional Court should play this role. The majority of the members of the Constitutional Assembly preferred to recognise a general principle which would guarantee the survival of party pluralism in Italian democracy. At that time any kind of regulation and control of the political parties was considered dangerous and seen as an attack on political freedom, since Italy was emerging from twenty years of Fascism. At present the Italian party system is totally changed and is moving towards a deep reorganization. That is why the point of view of Basso and Mortati, found in their studies about sovereignity, party democracy, representation, electoral systems, and opposition party rules, still represents a substantial contribution and a key to understanding the modem party system.