FROM 2 INTO ONE - THE FACES OF THE ITALIAN CHRISTIAN-DEMOCRATIC-PARTY

This article discusses the nature of Italy's major post-war government party, Christian Democracy (recently collapsed, after almost half a c entury in power), and its local power structures. Its main thesis is t hat, for a series of historical and socio-economic reasons, it was con stituted initially of two types of party - a notables' party in southe rn Italy and a mass party in northern Italy - held together by generic anti-communism and state patronage. Moreover, as a result of a succes sion of crucial developments (party reorganization in the 1950s, Vatic an II in the 1960s), it became a sort of catch-all party ante litteram , or more accurately a national 'syndicate of political machines'. The second part of the article documents the various mechanisms employed to ensure political consensus in two contrasting regions (Naples and V icenza) in the two major periods (1950s-1960s and 1970s-1980s). It con cludes with an indictment of the party in the current Italian politica l crisis.