30 years we need to understand
A recently published book features 12 essays that help us to understand Italy in the period from 1992 to 2022
An awareness of history – including recent history – gives us a better understanding of where and how we are living and, above all, of our direction of travel. This is always a useful lesson to remember, even for those who do business. And that’s why it’s useful to read: L’Italia al bivio. Classi dirigenti alla prova del cambiamento1992-2022 (Italy at a Crossroads. The Ruling Classes Grappling with Change 1992-2022), edited by Franco Amatori, Pietro Modiano and Edoardo Reviglio.
The book is, as the title indicates, a collection of essays whose aim is to take stock of 30 years of Italian history. The picture they paint is not only economic in nature – or even that much – but also social and political. And they all share a special quality: the
12 essays are written by those who witnessed events directly or have studied them in depth, and each one provides an account of the period in question and an interpretation. The focus is on the so-called “ruling classes” that governed the country over the three decades.
The following topics are covered by the 12 essays: failed reforms and public debt (Mario Perugini, Roberto Artoni); Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) and the turning point of 1992 (Pietro Modiano, Giuliano Amato); the great era of privatisation (Franco Amatori, Ruggiero Ranieri, Marco Onado, Edoardo Reviglio, Franco Bernabé); the turning point in industrial relations (Stefano Musso, Sergio Cofferati); the crisis of the old equilibrium and the new economic protagonists (Marco Doria, Andrea Colli, Innocenzo Cipolletta, Franco Amatori, Ilaria Sangalli, Aldo Fumagalli Romario); the enduring North/South divide (Leandra D’Antone, Gianfranco Viesti, Renato Quaglia); and our inadequacies in the face of the global challenge (Piarluigi Ciocca, Laura Pennacchi). The book closes with a long interview with Romano Prodi who pulls the threads of all the various contributions together.
But how, then, do we view the sum of three such troubled decades? From the analyses in the book, a negative assessment of what was done and achieved emerges. The opinion that the book forms is that the period could have led in a different direction, had the ruling classes been equal to the historical moment.
Like any book that sets out to put the record straight, L’Italia al bivio also provokes discussion, inspires debate and accepts that not everyone who reads it will agree. And that is why this work, edited by Amatori, Modiano and Reviglio, is worth reading and re-reading.
L’Italia al bivio. Classi dirigenti alla prova del cambiamento1992-2022 (Italy at a Crossroads. The Ruling Classes Grappling with Change 1992-2022)
Franco Amatori, Pietro Modiano, Edoardo Reviglio (ed.)
Franco Angeli, 2024
A recently published book features 12 essays that help us to understand Italy in the period from 1992 to 2022
An awareness of history – including recent history – gives us a better understanding of where and how we are living and, above all, of our direction of travel. This is always a useful lesson to remember, even for those who do business. And that’s why it’s useful to read: L’Italia al bivio. Classi dirigenti alla prova del cambiamento1992-2022 (Italy at a Crossroads. The Ruling Classes Grappling with Change 1992-2022), edited by Franco Amatori, Pietro Modiano and Edoardo Reviglio.
The book is, as the title indicates, a collection of essays whose aim is to take stock of 30 years of Italian history. The picture they paint is not only economic in nature – or even that much – but also social and political. And they all share a special quality: the
12 essays are written by those who witnessed events directly or have studied them in depth, and each one provides an account of the period in question and an interpretation. The focus is on the so-called “ruling classes” that governed the country over the three decades.
The following topics are covered by the 12 essays: failed reforms and public debt (Mario Perugini, Roberto Artoni); Mani Pulite (Clean Hands) and the turning point of 1992 (Pietro Modiano, Giuliano Amato); the great era of privatisation (Franco Amatori, Ruggiero Ranieri, Marco Onado, Edoardo Reviglio, Franco Bernabé); the turning point in industrial relations (Stefano Musso, Sergio Cofferati); the crisis of the old equilibrium and the new economic protagonists (Marco Doria, Andrea Colli, Innocenzo Cipolletta, Franco Amatori, Ilaria Sangalli, Aldo Fumagalli Romario); the enduring North/South divide (Leandra D’Antone, Gianfranco Viesti, Renato Quaglia); and our inadequacies in the face of the global challenge (Piarluigi Ciocca, Laura Pennacchi). The book closes with a long interview with Romano Prodi who pulls the threads of all the various contributions together.
But how, then, do we view the sum of three such troubled decades? From the analyses in the book, a negative assessment of what was done and achieved emerges. The opinion that the book forms is that the period could have led in a different direction, had the ruling classes been equal to the historical moment.
Like any book that sets out to put the record straight, L’Italia al bivio also provokes discussion, inspires debate and accepts that not everyone who reads it will agree. And that is why this work, edited by Amatori, Modiano and Reviglio, is worth reading and re-reading.
L’Italia al bivio. Classi dirigenti alla prova del cambiamento1992-2022 (Italy at a Crossroads. The Ruling Classes Grappling with Change 1992-2022)
Franco Amatori, Pietro Modiano, Edoardo Reviglio (ed.)
Franco Angeli, 2024