Mani Pulite

Mani Pulite was a series of Italian judicial investigations into political corruption that began in 1992. Its revelations helped bring down the political parties that had dominated Italy since the postwar period.

Mario Chiesa: A Milan nursing-home administrator whose 1992 arrest for accepting a bribe initiated the investigations known as Mani Pulite. His arrest became the investigation’s first public breakthrough.
Italian First Republic: The period of Italian republican politics from 1946 until the political upheavals of the early 1990s. Mani Pulite struck at the parties and institutions of this political era.
End of the First Republic: The collapse and reorganization of Italy’s postwar party system during the political upheavals of the early 1990s. Mani Pulite accelerated the dissolution of established governing parties.
Presumption of innocence: The legal principle that a person is considered innocent until proven guilty in a fair proceeding. Public accusations and media attention raised concerns about reputational punishment before trial.
Antonio Di Pietro: An Italian prosecutor who became the best-known investigator in Mani Pulite. His interrogations and press appearances made the Milan inquiry nationally visible.
Christian Democracy (Italy): An Italian political party that led most governing coalitions from the end of World War II until its dissolution in 1994. The investigations exposed corruption among leaders and networks tied to the governing party.
Italian general election, 1994: Italy’s 1994 parliamentary election, which brought Silvio Berlusconi’s newly formed Forza Italia to power. The election showed how quickly new political forces filled the space left by discredited parties.
Judicial populism: The use of popular support or public opinion to legitimize judicial action beyond ordinary legal reasoning. Critics argued that public enthusiasm for the prosecutors blurred law enforcement and political judgment.
Tangentopoli: A name for the system of political kickbacks and corruption exposed in Italy during the early 1990s. The investigations uncovered the wider system behind individual bribes.
Italian Socialist Party: An Italian political party that participated in national governments for much of the postwar period. Its leaders, including Bettino Craxi, became central targets of the corruption inquiry.

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