The results of the Italian parliamentary elections are seen by many observers as a populist triumph. And this success has been achieved both in the left and in the right camp. The main left party of the country was the movement "5 stars", created by a circus clown Beppe Grillo. And in the right-wing coalition the leading party was the League, whose leader Matteo Salvini wants to become Italy's new prime minister. Until recently both parties were perceived as hopeless marginals. Today the future of the country depends on them.
But the question arises: how could this happen at all? Why is the leader of the "5 stars" Luigi di Mayo calling the parliamentary elections the birth of the "third republic"? Where did the first two go?.
The first Italian republic arose after World War II. In 1992, it collapsed under the weight of anti-corruption investigations. Not only were politicians hurt, almost all traditional political parties disappeared. And Italians have a deep distrust of state institutions as such - in this sense, Italy is very similar to Ukraine.
The result of the death of the "first republic" was not so much the purification of the Italian political class as the transformation of Italy into an oligarchic state.
Premier for many years was businessman Silvio Berlusconi - a bright personality, almost devoid of any principles. In these parliamentary elections Berlusconi tried to return to power, but he unexpectedly missed the Salvini party.
One of the most important results of Berlusconi's rule is the continued erosion of state institutions. The Italians managed to continue the fight against corruption, under the investigation was Don Silvio himself. But ordinary citizens became more and more convinced that politicians are liars and corrupt officials who can not be trusted.
As a result, Prime Minister Matteo Renzi collapsed when he tried to reform state institutions. And now his Democratic Party has let populists go ahead - which may mean the end of the career of the former head of government.
Italians once again spoke out for chaos. This is the real content of the "Third Republic" - if only it really does arise.
Because in the programs of actions of the right-wing and left-wing populists, there is only one common thing: they can not practically be fulfilled. Any imputable ruling coalition on the Italian horizon is simply not visible. The only thing that the "third republic" will be able to do is to give way to the "fourth republic" after some time,. This time professional and responsible. But until this moment Italians have to make sure that there are no miracles in politics.
As cynical as it sounds, they have such opportunities. The Italian economy is capable of experiencing more than one experiment simply because in case of what the country will help the European Union - as it is now helping Greece.
But Ukraine does not have the right to experiment, unfortunately. The triumph of populists in our country will mean only one thing - the collapse of the state and the further impoverishment of citizens.
Does this mean that you do not need to fight corruption? Not at all. The Italians were not supposed to put up with the dominance of the mafia, the unscrupulousness of politicians, lies and nepotism - neither in the first nor in the second republic. And it would be strange if Ukrainians put up with the total corruption in which we live.
But when the fight against corruption is accompanied by systematic discrediting of state institutions, this can only lead to the degradation of political culture and the collapse of government.
This is exactly what is happening now in Italy. And this is exactly what can happen to us - despite the fact that we have almost nothing to degrade.
Simply put, if your chicken does not bring you golden eggs, you can raise the temperature in the henhouse, change the feed or find her a new cock. Or just chop off the chicken's head - the chicken is rotting from the head. The chicken still runs a little, of course - but you will not wait for the golden eggs.
Original.