The Alliance of Progressives ( it, Alleanza dei Progressisti) was a

left-wing Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy. Left-wing politics typically involve a concern for those in soci ...

political alliance of parties in Italy formed in 1994, with relevant predecessors at local level in 1993. The leader of the alliance was Achille Occhetto. The alliance was a predecessor of the modern-day

centre-left coalition The centre-left coalition ( it, coalizione di centro-sinistra) is an alliance of political parties in Italy active, under several forms and names, since 1995 when The Olive Tree was formed under the leadership of Romano Prodi. The centre-left ...

History

The Alliance of Progressives was formed in the wake of ''

Tangentopoli ''Mani pulite'' (; Italian for "clean hands") was a nationwide judicial investigation into political corruption in Italy held in the early 1990s, resulting in the demise of the so-called " First Republic" and the disappearance of many Italia ...

'' and the end of the so-called First Republic, when the once-dominant

Christian Democrats __NOTOC__ Christian democratic parties are political parties that seek to apply Christian principles to public policy. The underlying Christian democracy movement emerged in 19th-century Europe, largely under the influence of Catholic social ...

(DC) and four other establishment parties collapsed and were replaced by new political formations during 1992-1994, while the

Italian Communist Party The Italian Communist Party ( it, Partito Comunista Italiano, PCI) was a communist political party in Italy. The PCI was founded as ''Communist Party of Italy'' on 21 January 1921 in Livorno by seceding from the Italian Socialist Party (PSI) ...

had earlier in 1991 abandoned communism and reformed itself as the

Democratic Party of the Left The Democratic Party of the Left ( it, Partito Democratico della Sinistra, PDS) was a democratic socialist and social-democratic political party in Italy. Founded in February 1991 as the post-communist evolution of the Italian Communist Party, t ...

(PDS). The PDS was the core party of the Alliance, which also included the Communist Refoundation Party, the

Federation of the Greens The Federation of the Greens ( it, Federazione dei Verdi, FdV), frequently referred to as Greens (''Verdi''), was a green political party in Italy. It was formed in 1990 by the merger of the Federation of Green Lists and the Rainbow Greens. T ...

, the remnant

Italian Socialist Party The Italian Socialist Party (, PSI) was a Socialism, socialist and later Social democracy, social-democratic List of political parties in Italy, political party in Italy, whose history stretched for longer than a century, making it one of the l ...

and Socialist Rebirth, DC splinter

Social Christians The Social Christians ( it, Cristiano Sociali) are a Christian social-democratic faction within the Democratic Party, a political party in Italy. Before that, they were a party (1993–1998) and a faction of the Democrats of the Left (1998–2 ...

, the anti-Mafia

Network Network, networking and networked may refer to: Science and technology * Network theory, the study of graphs as a representation of relations between discrete objects * Network science, an academic field that studies complex networks Mathematics ...

and Democratic Alliance, the latter formed by former Republicans and

Socialists Socialism is a left-wing economic philosophy and movement encompassing a range of economic systems characterized by the dominance of social ownership of the means of production as opposed to private ownership. As a term, it describes the eco ...

. The Alliance was formed in part as a response to the Italian electoral system moving to a more majoritarian system. The Alliance suffered a decisive defeat in the 1994 general election by the centre-right coalition led by

Silvio Berlusconi Silvio Berlusconi ( ; ; born 29 September 1936) is an Italian media tycoon and politician who served as Prime Minister of Italy in four governments from 1994 to 1995, 2001 to 2006 and 2008 to 2011. He was a member of the Chamber of Deputies f ...

, which was organised as the

Pole of Freedoms The Pole of Freedoms ( it, Polo delle Libertà) was a centre-right political and electoral alliance in Italy, launched at the 1994 general election by Silvio Berlusconi. Its counterpart in central and southern Italy was the Pole of Good Govern ...

in northern Italy and Pole of Good Government in southern Italy. In the election both left-wing and centre-right coalitions also competed with the

Pact for Italy The Pact for Italy ( it, Patto per l'Italia) was a centrist political and electoral alliance in Italy launched by Mario Segni and Mino Martinazzoli in 1994. History The alliance was composed of the Italian People's Party (PPI), the main successo ...

, a

centrist Centrism is a political outlook or position involving acceptance or support of a balance of social equality and a degree of social hierarchy while opposing political changes that would result in a significant shift of society strongly to Left-w ...

alliance formed by DC successor the Italian People's Party (PPI) and the

Segni Pact The Segni Pact ( it, Patto Segni), officially called Pact of National Rebirth (''Patto di Rinascita Nazionale''), was a Christian-democratic, centrist and liberal political party in Italy. The party was founded and named after Mario Segni, a form ...

. For the 1995 regional election and 1996 general election the Alliance was succeeded by a broader

led by

Romano Prodi Romano Antonio Prodi (; born 9 August 1939) is an Italian politician, economist, academic, senior civil servant, and business executive who served as the tenth president of the European Commission from 1999 to 2004. He served twice as Pr ...

known as The Olive Tree, which included the PPI (diminished by the split of the

United Christian Democrats The United Christian Democrats ( it, Cristiani Democratici Uniti, CDU) was a minor Christian democratic political party in Italy. The CDU was a member of the European People's Party from 1995 until 2002. History The party was started in 1995 by s ...

in 1995), Segni Pact and

Italian Renewal Italian Renewal ( it, Rinnovamento Italiano, RI) was a centrist and liberal political party in Italy. The party was a member of The Olive Tree and centre-left coalition, while also affiliated to the European People's Party from 1998 to 2004. ...

, but excluding the Communist Refoundation Party, which was an external ally and presented its candidates under the "Progressives" banner in some single-seat constituencies.

Composition

The alliance was composed of:

Election results

Italian Parliament

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Alliance Of Progressives Political parties established in 1994 Defunct political party alliances in Italy 1994 establishments in Italy History of the Communist Refoundation Party