4 Majority Rule vs. Consensus: The Practice of Democratic Deliberation in the Greek Poleis

Abstract

Finora ci siamo divisi, urtati, lacerati nella stessa discussione del testo costituzionale. Ma vi era uno sforzo per raggiungere l'accordo e l'unità. E ora io sono sicuro che nell'approvazione finale il consenso sarà comune ed unanime e dirò che, al di sotto di una superfice di contrasto, vi è una sola anima italiana. L'Italia avrà una Carta costituzionale che sarà sacra per tutti gli italiani.22 nd of December 1947 Meuccio Ruini, Assemblea Costituente 2The first of these books is Counting the Many: The Origins and Limits of Supermajority Rule, by Melissa Schwartzberg (a political scientist). 4 This monograph 1 I want to thank first and foremost Josh Ober for the many wonderful discussions over the months of his stay in Edinburgh, which have formed the basis of much that I discuss here. I also need to thank Edward Harris, Nino Luraghi, Mogens Hansen, Alberto Esu and David Lewis for many insightful suggestions, and audiences in Edinburgh, Torino, Łódź and Cambridge, MA and London for very productive discussions. The idea for the epigraph was suggested to me, over a lovely dinner, by Maurizio and Gabriella Viroli. 2 'Up until now we have been divided, torn in the very discussion of the constituonal text. But there was an effort to reach agreement and unity. And now I am confident that in the final approval the consensus will be shared and unanimous, and I state that, underneath the surface of the disagreements, there is one Italian spirit. Italy will have a Constitution which will be sacred to all Italians.' The Italian Constitutional Assembly was composed of 556 delegates, elected, with a strictly proportional electoral system, by 89.1% of eligible voters. They were Catholic-democrats, liberali (libertarian conservatives, not to be confused with 'liberals'), republican-azionisti, socialists, communists -they came from all sides of the political spectrum. They started their work on the new constitution in June 1946, and approved the final text in December 1947. They, argued, disagreed, advanced proposals and withdrew them, persuaded and were persuaded multiple times, changed the text and then changed it again, and again. When, finally, it came to the vote, on the 22 nd of December 1947, the Costituzione della Repubblica Italiana was approved with 90% of the votes of the delegates.