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Political Parties and Social Formations
One of the essential
presuppositions to the concept of political democracy is the opening up of the
area of direct political participation to the citizen. The constitutional
recognition of the role of social formations, expressing the pluralist nature of
society, allows for the active participation of citizens in the direction of
public life. This is achieved not only through traditional channels of political
representation but also by way of trade union and professional organizations,
various civil societies and the increasing opportunities provided by regional,
work, scholastic, health and local authority reforms.
In a pluralist
democracy therefore the juridical channels of consultation, direction and
decision are many and diverse. The democratic state is in fact based on both
fundamental juridical guarantees and an efficient interchange between public
powers and civil society. To just such an end the political parties form a
determining factor, deciding as they do which particular direction to follow.
Italian political forces, in the face of a considerable concentration of powers
and functions, are subject to a juridical discipline that forces the parties to
co-operate with the public authorities mainly in an informal way and without
adequate institutional support.
In the same political party live together two
tendencies. An institutional one, because the party has constitutional
responsibility for important public functions, and `private' one, typical of
free association and confirmed by its civil classification as a `non-recognized
association'. Thus the free and autonomous internal nature of the organization
and the prohibition on any public interference in the life of the political
party must be reconciled with the always more frequent and complex institutional
relationships and with the receipt of public funding. The latter having been
introduced, not without controversy and resistance, by a 1974 law.
It is
clear however that a reasonable balance must be achieved between the private
nature of a political party, which acts as an expression of pluralism in the
selection and channelling of political demands, and the public or
`institutional' nature, which has to provide an effective democracy. Obviously
this entails particular responsibility for the party where the use of funds is
concerned.
The Mass-media in a Democratic Society
Parallel to the role of the
parties and other social formations in a social democracy that of the mass-media
continues to be of growing importance. Freedom of opinion and of the press is a
constitutional right that, furthermore, was affirmed in the dawn of European
liberalism. Technological developments have both underlined and transformed the
rules governing newspapers and radio and television broadcasts. The public
authorities in almost every country have had to draw up specific regulations to
ensure plurality of information, to avoid a dangerous monopoly of the means of
communication and to discipline access to the formation of public
opinion.
Although with a certain delay, Italy too has compiled guidelines for
public financial intervention in the information field. This is not only to
support radio and television services but also other information systems.
Public and Privat Service
The radio and television services
originated as state monopolies, run by specially appointed bodies and presented
two problems in particular: democratic control of the service and right of
access, according to pluralistic guarantees. The change to a regime with both
public and private services has raised the important question of defining the
respective areas of competence and the way in which the entire system should be
controlled. The Corte Costituzionale has ruled legitimate the presence of a
private service alongside that of the public and thus raised the urgent problem
for parliament and the government of providing the necessary supervision. The
public radio and television service is governed by a parliamentary commission
drawn from both chambers and an administrative council, formally appointed by
the IRI, (Institute for the Reconstruction of Industry), with the approval of
the government and political powers.
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