"Montism"

Ilvo Diamanti is an Italian political scientist who writes a regular column for La Repubblica.  He also teaches at the University of Urbino and directs il Laboratorio di Studi Politici e Sociali.  And the New York Times frequently seeks him out when they need informed commentary on Italian politics. 
I’ve been reading him whenever possible while I’m here and today's piece is particularly interesting.
 
Mario Monti took over as head of the Italian government just about a year ago, on November, 16 2011, after European markets and loss of domestic support forced Silvio Berlusconi to resign.  As Monti’s anniversary comes up, Diamanti considers the meaning of a year of “Montism.”  In the briefest terms, he characterizes Monti’s government of (mostly) politically astute technocrats as “Aristocratic Democracy” (Aristocrazia Democratica).

More interesting that this summary characterization is his suggestion that, at least in part, general appreciation for Monti is mixed with a kind of nostalgia for the First Italian Republic.  This was the long, post-war period when the Christian Democrats formed one government after another.  Diamanti suggests, too, that this nostalgia is at work in current negotiations over a new election law that would apply to the elections planned for next Spring.  Many, he proposes, would be comfortable with a law that effectively kept any single party from getting a clear majority.  According to Diamanti, these people believe the effect such an electoral arrangement be to require the kind of post-election negotiation to form a government that characterized the Christian Democratic era.  Again, according to Diamanti, the proponents of this approach think it would produce a version of Monti’s aristocratic democracy.  Partisanship would be replaced by a consensus among experienced government figures.  It seems, though, the “aristocrats” in this case could end up being people who know politics better than government.