Editing Democratization (section)

=== Italy ===
[[File:Carlo Alberto firma lo Statuto.jpg|thumb|right|King [[Charles Albert of Sardinia]] signs the [[Statuto Albertino|Albertine Statute]], 4 March 1848.]]
[[File:Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana.jpg|thumb|[[Constitution of Italy|Constitution of the Italian Republic]], came into force on 1 January 1948 after the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum]].]]

In September 1847, [[Insurrection of 1847 in the Two Sicilies|violent riots inspired by Liberals]] broke out in [[Reggio Calabria]] and in [[Messina]] in the [[Kingdom of the Two Sicilies]], which were put down by the military. On 12 January 1848 a [[Sicilian revolution of independence of 1848|rising in Palermo]] spread throughout the island and served as a spark for the [[Revolutions of 1848]] all over Europe. After similar revolutionary outbursts in [[Salerno]], south of [[Naples]], and in the [[Cilento]] region which were backed by the majority of the intelligentsia of the Kingdom, on 29 January 1848 King [[Ferdinand II of the Two Sicilies]] was forced to grant a constitution, using for a pattern the French [[Charter of 1830]]. This constitution was quite advanced for its time in liberal democratic terms, as was the proposal of a unified [[Italy|Italian]] confederation of states.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://pti.regione.sicilia.it/portal/page/portal/PIR_PORTALE/PIR_150ANNI/PIR_150ANNISITO/PIR_Schede/PIR_Gliautonomistisiciliani|title=AUTONOMISMO E UNITÀ|access-date=16 September 2023|language=it}}</ref> On 11 February 1848, [[Leopold II, Grand Duke of Tuscany|Leopold II of Tuscany]], first cousin of Emperor [[Ferdinand I of Austria]], granted the Constitution, with the general approval of his subjects. The Habsburg example was followed by [[Charles Albert of Sardinia]] ([[Statuto Albertino|Albertine Statute]]; later became the constitution of the [[Proclamation of the Kingdom of Italy|unified Kingdom of Italy]] and remained in force, with changes, until 1948<ref>{{cite book|last=Mack Smith|first=Denis |title=Modern Italy: A Political History|publisher=Yale University Press |year=1997}}</ref>) and by [[Pope Pius IX]] (Fundamental Statute). However, only King Charles Albert maintained the statute even after the end of the riots.

The [[Kingdom of Italy]], after the [[unification of Italy]] in 1861, was a [[constitutional monarchy]]. The new kingdom was governed by a parliamentary constitutional monarchy dominated by liberals.{{efn|In 1848, [[Camillo Benso, Count of Cavour]] had formed a parliamentary group in the [[Kingdom of Sardinia (1720–1861)|Kingdom of Sardinia]] Parliament named the ''Partito Liberale Italiano'' (Italian Liberal Party). From 1860, with the [[Italian unification|Unification of Italy]] substantially realized and the death of Cavour himself in 1861, the Liberal Party was split into at least two major factions or new parties later known as the ''Destra Storica'' on the right-wing, who substantially assembled the Count of Cavour's followers and political heirs; and the ''Sinistra Storica'' on the left-wing, who mostly reunited the followers and sympathizers of [[Giuseppe Garibaldi]] and other former [[Giuseppe Mazzini|Mazzinians]]. The Historical Right (''Destra Storica'') and the Historical Left (''Sinistra Storica'') were composed of royalist liberals. At the same time, radicals organized themselves into the [[Italian Radical Party|Radical Party]] and republicans into the [[Italian Republican Party]].}} The [[Italian Socialist Party]] increased in strength, challenging the traditional liberal and conservative establishment. From 1915 to 1918, the Kingdom of Italy took part in [[World War I]] on the side of the [[Allies of World War I|Entente]] and against the [[Central Powers]]. In 1922, following a period of crisis and turmoil, the [[Italian Fascism|Italian fascist]] dictatorship was established. During [[World War II]], Italy was first part of the [[Axis powers|Axis]] until it surrendered to the [[Allies of World War II|Allied powers]] (1940–1943) and then, as part of its territory was occupied by [[Nazi Germany]] with [[Italian Social Republic|fascist collaboration]], a co-belligerent of the Allies during the [[Italian resistance]] and the subsequent [[Italian Civil War]], and the [[liberation of Italy]] (1943–1945). The aftermath of World War II left Italy also with an anger against the monarchy for its endorsement of the [[Fascist Italy (1922–1943)|Fascist regime]] for the previous twenty years. These frustrations contributed to a revival of the Italian republican movement.<ref>{{Citation|year=1970|title=Italia|encyclopedia=Dizionario enciclopedico italiano|volume=VI|page=456|publisher=[[Treccani]]|language=it}}</ref> [[Italy]] became a republic after the [[1946 Italian institutional referendum]]<ref>{{cite video |year=1946 |title=Damage Foreshadows A-Bomb Test, 1946/06/06 (1946) |url=https://archive.org/details/1946-06-06_Damage_Foreshadows_A-Bomb_Test |publisher=[[Universal Newsreel]] |access-date=22 February 2012}}</ref> held on 2 June, a day celebrated since as ''[[Festa della Repubblica]]''. Italy has a written democratic [[Constitution of Italy|constitution]], resulting from the work of a [[Constituent Assembly of Italy|Constituent Assembly]] formed by the representatives of all the [[anti-fascist]] forces that contributed to the defeat of Nazi and Fascist forces during the [[liberation of Italy]] and the [[Italian Civil War]],<ref>Smyth, Howard McGaw Italy: From Fascism to the Republic (1943–1946) ''The Western Political Quarterly'' vol. 1 no. 3 (pp. 205–222), September 1948.{{JSTOR|442274}}</ref> and coming into force on 1 January 1948.