The secular religious cleavage, solidarity and the italian party system

The paper is divided in five sections: 1) The origin of the secular-religious cleavage from the Italian unitary state to the end of “Prima Repubblica”, where we will first try to set out the historical and genetic framework which characterized the evolution of the Italian political system, from the birth of the unitary Italian state to the end of the so-called First Republic. We will analyze the different phases about the relationship between the Catholic Church and the Italian political system, paying particular attention to the dynamics of the Italian party system until the eve of so-called Second Re-public. From this analysis emerges as the unity of Catholics in politics, despite being a constant issue of the last century, has never been the only strategic option available to the Catholic Church to defend its values and interests. 2)Theoretical framework, where we explore the dimension of the solidarity concept in the main political traditions In this section, we will first try to set out the problems in the relationship between the individual and the society, particularly focusing on the problems of solidarity in modern societies. Besides, we will consider the problems of social citizenship within the Welfare State, in the light of the complexities of contemporary societies, in order to single out the main arguments justifying solidarity-based public policies, with particular reference to social policies. Finally, taking account of the present communitarian criticisms to the modern view of society, we will try to sketch a model of ‘selective solidarity’, able to integrate the traditional notions of justice and solidarity. 3)The roots of the solidarity concept in the Italian welfare system, where we will focus on the following themes: a) the evolution of social policies in Italy, within the framework of the solidarity model present in the Italian welfare state system. b) social policies will be analysed trough the evolution of the welfare system beginning from the introduction of the Constitution of the Italian Republic. 4) Catholic Church’s influence and pressure on the party system after the collapse of Italian political system (the era of “Seconda Repubblica”), where we will analyze the changes in the relations between the Catholic Church and the new Italian political parties, after the collapse of the so-called “Prima Repubblica”. The end of the political unity of catholics led the Catholic hierarchies to declare a position of political neutrality. Consequently, there is a greater articulation in the pressure on public opinion to support values such as family, education and life (the beginning and the end). And this involves a change of strategy from the logic of direct action towards a single party, to the logic of indirect action towards the public opinion with Catholic values orientation. For these reasons, in Italy is extremely difficult to affirm public policies inspired to liberal values. 5)The “good life” between individual-public choice and ‘lobbies’, where will analyze the different positions of the political parties on the controversy over Eluana Englaro (2009) and the debate on living wills and their decisions in the parliamentary arena. It is interesting to note a certain divergence between public opinion and political decisions on the issue of living wills. Finally, the case study will pose the question as to whether or not an ethical fracture has been created between political parties and coalitions, which are competing among themselves for support.