Government
Article 1 of the Italian Constitution states
Italy is a democratic Republic founded on labour. Sovereignty belongs to the people and is exercised by the people in the forms and within the limits of the Constitution.
By stating that Italy is a democratic republic, the article solemnly declares the results of the constitutional referendum which took place on the 2nd of June 1946. The State is not anymore an hereditary property of the ruling monarch, but it is instead a Res Publica, it belongs to everyone.
The people who are called to temporarily administer the republic are not owners, but servants; and the governed are not subjects, but citizens. And the sovereignty, that is the power to make choices that involve the entire community, belongs to the people, in accordance with the concept of a democracy, from the Greek demos (people) and kratìa (power). This power, however, is not to be exercised arbitrarily, but in the forms and within the limits established by the rule of law.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of Italy
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