Britain And Italy: Explaining Some Past Surprises

Scholarly observers have generally seen British government and politics as effective and admirable; Italian government and politics as seriously flawed. Nevertheless, with respect to several crucial criteria of social and economic development, Italy has either surpassed or drawn even with Britain, even though in 1945 she lagged far behind in virtually all relevant categories. It is suggested that the explanation for “bad government” seemingly succeeding more than “good government” involves substantial attention to particular, idiosyncratic and micro-level variables of political development sometimes overlooked in generalist approaches.