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Silvio Berlusconi and the myth of the creative entrepreneur

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  07 January 2016

Emanuela Poli
Emanuela Poli*
Affiliation:
St. Antony's College, Oxford, OX2 6JF
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Summary

Berlusconi became a high-profile entrepreneur in the course of the 1980s, founding his empire on construction, television and department stores. His transformation of AC Milan into a powerful force in football and popular culture set the scene for his entry into politics in 1994. Berlusconi presented himself as an outsider and a possible saviour of the nation in crisis. With his appealing image and constant repetition of his personal success story, he conveyed to the electorate a reassuring message of future prosperity. However, he lacked the visionary energy of the true charismatic leader. Instead he was a corporate politician who filled the personality vacuum left by the removal of the old élite.

Type
Articles
Information
Modern Italy , Volume 3 , Issue 2: Charisma and the cult of personality in modern Italy , November 1998 , pp. 271 - 279
Copyright
Copyright © Association for the study of Modern Italy 

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References

Notes

1. For an analysis of Berlusconi's narcissistic promotion of his physical image, see Gundle, Stephen, ‘II sorriso di Berlusconi’, in Altrochemestre, 3, 1995, pp. 14–17.Google Scholar

2. For a biography of Silvio Berlusconi, see Fiori, Giuseppe, Il venditore. Storia di Silvio Berlusconi e della Fininvest, Garzanti, Milan, 1995; Ruggeri, Giovanni and Guarino, Mario, Berlusconi. Inchiesta sul Signor Tv, Kaos Edizioni, Milan, 1994 (2nd edn); D'Anna, Stefano and Moncalvo, Gigi, Berlusconi in concert, Otzium, London, 1994; Ferrari, Giorgio, Il padrone del diavolo. Storia di Silvio Berlusconi, Camunia, Milan, 1990.Google Scholar

3. See D'Anna, and Moncalvo, , ‘Una task-force chiamata Publitalia’, Berlusconi in concert, particularly chapter 13, and Rossi, Luca, ‘I Boys di Berlusconi’, ZeroDue, April 1987.Google Scholar

4. Fiori, , Il venditore, p. 152.Google Scholar

5. Porro, Nicola, ‘L'innovazione conservatrice. Fininvest, Milan club e Forza Italia’, Quaderni di Sociologia, XXXIX, 1995, p. 11.Google Scholar

6. On the spectacularization of soccer see Pivato, Stefano, ‘Sport: verso nuove forme di consumo’, in Ginsborg, Paul (ed.), Stato dell'Italia, Il Saggiatore, Milan, 1994, pp. 629–63, and Porro, Nicola, ‘Fra politica e consumo. Le quattro rivoluzioni del calcio spettacolo’, in D'Alimonte, Roberto and Nelken, David (eds), Politica in Italia. Edizione 1997, Il Mulino, Bologna, 1997, pp. 223–39.Google Scholar

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8. Porro, , ‘L'innovazione conservatrice’, p. 9.Google Scholar

9. Ibid., pp. 12–13.Google Scholar

10. Fiori, , Il venditore, p. 135. The six entrepreneurs whose popularity was at the time weekly scanned by Publitalia were: Silvio Berlusconi, Gianni Agnelli, Carlo De Benedetti, Raul Gardini, Leopoldo Pirelli and Giorgio Falk.Google Scholar

11. Not surprisingly, Berlusconi's businesses abroad, in contexts and markets were more regulated and controlled, generally proved less successful than those in Italy. However, also in Italy, Fininvest experienced some financial difficulties in the course of the years, and accumulated debts which have now been re-paid after RTI and three other companies in the Fininvest group were quoted on the stock market in mid-1996. Berlusconi is also currently involved (together with his closest aides within Fininvest) in a number of serious bribery investigations, concerning tax officials, party leaders and also judges.Google Scholar

12. For a detailed analysis of Berlusconi's populist language, see McCarthy, Patrick, ‘Silvio Berlusconi: la parola crea l'uomo politico’, Europa/Europe, 3, 1994, pp. 241–56.Google Scholar

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15. La Repubblica, 9 February 1998.Google Scholar

16. On the ‘discreet but noticeable distance’ between Silvio Berlusconi and the Italian Old Guard economic elite, see Friedman, Alan, ‘The economic elite and the political system’, in Gundle, and Parker, , The New Italian Republic, pp. 263–72.Google Scholar

17. See interviews with Epoca, 13 October 1993, and La Repubblica, 10 December 1994. Considering the support he received from various political parties, particularly when he needed construction or broadcasting licences, Berlusconi's claim of political purity is in fact hardly believable.Google Scholar

18. D'Anna, and Moncalvo, , ‘The sun in your pocket’, Berlusconi in concert, chapter 4.Google Scholar

19. Gardner, Howard, Leading Minds, London, HarperCollins, 1996, p. 14.Google Scholar

20. Ibid., pp. 10–11.Google Scholar

21. Ibid., p. 11.Google Scholar

22. Il Corriere della Sera, 17 January 1997.Google Scholar