FABIO RUGGE

I regimi municipali in Italia e Germania tra Ottocento e Novecento. Una comparazione

N. 197

Summary - After the unification of Italy, laws were passed establishing the uniformity of local institutions over the whole national territory. In pre-Nazi Germany, on the contrary, those institutions were regulated by norms that allowed - in accordance with the will of the citizens - a great variety of forms of governments. Another difference between the two cases lies in the important role given in Germany to the burgomaster: a personality with great technical abilities and political balance. The Italian communes were instead governed along factional or party lines, and this necessitated strong forms of control on the part of the central government. The two cases are therefore embodiments of two different traditions: the unitary and centralist one, in Italy; and the federal and autonomist one, in Germany. The differences came near to disappearing only during the authoritarian regimes, which saw the end, in both countries, of local autonomy and the dominance, in municipal government, of party personalities appointed by the centre.