Paper Proposal

Aliz Savay

Mr. Zarwell

Global Studies Seminar

16 January 2010

Berlusconi’s Rise to Power and Effect on Italy’s Economy

Silvio Berlusconi is the world’s longest-serving post-war prime minister and one of Italy’s wealthiest men. He gained power through his media empire Mediaset, and later became prime minister of Italy in 1994 with his own political party, Forza Italia. Although he is a “rags-to-riches” man and was vastly supported throughout his time in power, his support soon began to decline during his last time in office when he began to become extremely controversial, his life surrounded by scandals, trials, and manipulation. In my paper, I would like to research how Berlusconi came to power and his younger life as an extremely influential businessman, and how it all came crashing down. Berlusconi went from being one of the most powerful men in the country, loved by the majority of Italy, to a man who destroyed Italy’s economy and is now widely seen as a 75 year old man who needs to exit politics for good. I would also like to research exactly how Berlusconi impacted Italy’s economy and the actions he took which decreased the value of the Euro, adding to the European debt crisis, and put Italy in the extreme amount of debt the country is in today. Why did Berlusconi’s attempts at saving the economy fail and what measures could he have taken to save the economy along with his reputation? I would like to see if the European economy was in too bad of shape because of Greece, or if Berlusconi really did have a large impact on the euro zone, and also if Monti’s new austerity measures will truly revive Italy’s economy.

This topic is extremely interesting to me due to the fact that I am Hungarian and travel to Europe frequently. Italy is my favorite country to visit, and I love knowing about its economy and the effect Berlusconi has had on it. In addition, Berlusconi’s scandals and controversial actions also interest me, compelling me to learn more about him and the effect that these trails and scandals had on his political career.

This topic is very important to the world, because the state of Italy’s economy directly affects the state of the European economy. Also, directly following Berlusconi’s resignation, U.S. stocks went up in hopes that his absence from politics and Mario Monti’s new reforms would be able to fix Italy’s economy. Berlusconi has had a significant impact on not only Italy but the whole world due to the crumbling state of Italy’s economy, which makes his time as prime minister extremely relevant to the world around us and an interesting topic to research.

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